What's your WORST parenting mistake?

[Convergent]

Just that, really! I have an 11 month old, and I constantly feel like I'm f*cking up one way or the other, so please 'fess up to your sins for the greater good and enlightenment of us poor beginners...

DS was kicking off with a toddler tantrum, so I put him in time out
(sit on his bed with the door shut)
Unfortunately as I physically picked him up and carried him to time out I did not notice the surprisingly spiky plastic dinosaur on the bed and sat him on it
Not bruised or damaged in any way but he did not calm down.....

I was in the office having a shocker of a day which happened to coincide with the day DS was due to get his much excited for exam results. I promised to call him at 4pm when his Grandma was picking him up and I forgot. . I received a missed call and a sarky voice mail about "forgetting about your first (and only) born child, what kind of mother did I think I was". He still trots it out now.

I thought I had strapped the car seat on but I'd only strapped him into the internal straps of the car seat but hadn't then attached the car seat the back seat ( does this make sense??) anyway went round a roundabout to see the car seat roll in the back!!! Heart attack material

Oh god, the time I left DS on the changing table at eight weeks old, turned my back and he kicked himself off it? Cue screaming trip to A and E. He was fine of course, but I cried for about a week.

Or any of the times I've lost my temper and screamed at the DCs. I hate myself for it, and I try so hard now just to walk away.

My dd walked around for THREE days with a broken arm before we realized it was really not something minor like a sprain.

Have locked said child and the keys in the car. Had to get AA out to get her out.

Oh there are so many more........

I didn't insist that I get a doctors appointment when my ds had chickenpox, I was on the phone to the doctor as I was worried about how poorly DD was with it, he said "you only need to worry if the spots have redness around them" to which I said - thats what ds's look like but I don't think he heard me and I didn't pursue it. Several years on, he has raised lumpy scars on his torso that I can only assume will always be there.
There are loads of others - 2 year old broke a glass bottle of Olbas oil and cut hand but not badly, lots and lots of falls, whacked heads, as a pp said, they're still here so I'm doing ok and that'll have to be good enough.

I told my 2yo DS to hurry coming down the stairs as his baby sister was screaming to he fed. He jumped, landing on his face :( 6 stitches and a 4 hour sit off in A&E. Someone else had to feed DD for me :(

Getting stressed by my son not eating properly. 2 years later we still have battles

I shout a lot.

I once pushed DD2 (in her buggy) down a few shallow steps outside the library instead of walking round the slightly longer ramp way. The wheel got stuck in a rut and we both tumbled down the steps, and she ended up upside down. Luckily she was well strapped in and was fine.

DH was swinging her around (like you do) when she was about 4, but he did it inside, too close to the door. Her head got caught on the metal bit (you know, the bit that the door handle operates, which closes the door) and ripped open. Her skull was showing, and she had to have it glued in hospital. She has a faint 1" scare on her forehead. There was no point being angry with him though... it was an accident and there was nothing I could do about it by the time I got in from work. He felt awful, but she was fine!

scar not scare!!

KissMyFatArse - I did the exact same thing, popped the capsule in the back of the car without strapping it into the seat belt. You only do it once eh! :-)

Turned my back to get a babygro, and he rolled off the changing mat onto the stone floor - luckily he landed on his arse as it was a good 3ft drop.

I also pandered to his food whims, and he's now a horribly fussy eater like his mother. On the other hand, DD has been given anything and everything, I even buy her stuff DH and I won't eat, and she just loves food. Thank Christ. It could still all go wrong and bite me in the arse, though - I have learned not to be smug.

Listening to the fucking idiotic GP who told me some babies 'just cry'.

No, my baby used to not cry, and then started screaming. Undiagnosed reflux for 6 months. None of us slept. It was hell.

I shut the car door gently to let someone past me, in my 8 month pregnant state, car keys were down at the side of toddler DS so I could strap him in. The car auto locked. We were at a services 100 miles from home and a 100 miles from our destination. I sobbed. DS fell asleep after an hour. I still feel awful about it. Green flag didn't really get the urgency of a one year old who was not fully strapped into a car and his parents locked outside, in the pissing rain, with his heavily pregnant mother absolutely hysterical. 4 hours. Horrendous.

I posted on here that night, and it reminded me of how fantastic mumsnetters are. The police and the dispatch service for Green flag, though, were useless cunts - and I say that as a policeman's daughter

I shout in the mornings when we're running late. The other day DD just slumped into her pushchair where I'd put dumped her and gave me the big eyed, wobbly lip face. I felt awful, it was my fault we were late - I mean, who actually expects a 2 year old to do exactly what you say as quickly as you want them to do it? Very Bad Mum

The very first day we had her home I brushed my hair while holding her and whacked her around the head with the brush.

The one I feel worst about so far was doing some, ah, more personal 'tidying up' while she was in the bath (I was in the bathroom too, just not watching her like a hawk) and for the one time bloody ever she found a bottle of not quite finished shower gel, filled it with water and drank it. Spaghetti vomit everywhere...

The ones which could have been truly disastrous were the, let me see, three separate occasions forgot to strap DD into her carseat (toddler age on all three occasions, the worst being when DM and I were on the motorway before we realised), and the time I left her browsing in ELC (she was 2, she decided to leave the shop, WTF was I thinking, someone brought her back, phew).

The one where I know we must have gone wrong somewhere, but can't quite pinpoint where, is her eating habits - though I suspect that having a child with a man with a ridiculous sweet tooth was part of it.

And the one that is already biting me in the arse, and will no doubt continue - sarcasm and passive-aggressive muttering. Hearing a 10yo going on in a tone I recognise all too well that 'Well, my teacher thought it was a REALLY good idea to swap tables, and obviously Maisie couldn't POSSIBLY be the one to move ...' is not entirely comfortable.

I've done the not strapping the car seat in aswell. Baby was strapped in but car seat wasn't. He was about 9 days old. I've never forgotten to strap the car seat in again.

Another one here who has strapped the baby into the car seat but not strapped the car seat in! Once

I can't think of any where my children are concerned ......

I forgot to strap DS1 into the pushchair once. He slipped out the front and I nearly ran him over!

Yes I have forgotten to strap up, DD1 when she was younger, into her buggy. Busy chatting to other mum and he fell out AND I managed to continue and push the buggy over her.

Also popped her on the sofa once when she was little and she rolled off. Thank god we didn't have a coffee table there (we do now).

Also left something on the stairs and fell down while holding DD2. Ended up in A&E.

I wonder if I should give up being a mummy, I am clearly rubbish.

These are great - thank you all for making me feel like I'm not the only one!

My personal fails have included dropping the remote control on newborn DD's head (amazingly, she didn't even wake up), putting a bit too much trust in the old "don't worry, they know their own appetite" stuff (erm no, she actually needs to eat quite a bit more than that, as it turns out), and, one one occasion, finding that non-crawling DD had somehow managed to close the glass-panelled door between the lounge and the kitchen, effectively locking me and DH in the kitchen and herself in the lunge, as she started banging her head against the door - soooo bad! (No harm done, other than a slightly upset baby, though!)

Keep them coming!

Dh's was leaving pink ibuprofen tablets around. My house rule is that all medication must be up so high it's hard for us to get to. DD2, 3yo, ate an unknown amount - up to 9x 200mg tablets. He called while I was talking to the doctor in A&E and the doctor said afterwards that he had no concerns about a repeat luckily DD2 is tall and hefty for her age so it wasn't a toxic dose and she was fine.

Mine - shouty most mornings recently. I have to encourage every single mouthful of breakfast and after 20 minutes when it's time to leave I turn a bit drill sergeant. It's not at them but more of a 'By the door, with your bags and coats NOW!' I'm trying not to but judging from other tells I'm a bit stressed at the moment. final exam is Wednesday

Accidentally fed something with an extremely hot chilli in it to 11m DS at a festival.

Thought my DS was just being a bit whingy and annoying when he had in fact broken his collarbone.

kiss I have done that.
When DC5 was a tiny baby and I was doing the supermarket run.
I would put him in his car seat whilst I put the shopping away and then either a/drive off with the internal straps done but the seat belt not done up or b/the seat belt done up but the straps undone.

I had to learn to strap him in properly before doing anything else. Its so easy to do when you are in post baby fug.

I dislocated DD's elbow yesterday! She's 2. She was sliding off the bed, I grabbed her hand and tried to pull her back up and felt something give...A&E fixed it immediately, thank goodness. I've never been in and out of A&E so quickly in my life. I expiated my guilt by letting her sleep in my bed last night and am totally exhausted today as a result.

Forgot to strap newborn dd into car seat after having undone straps as she hated said seat tried to blame dh but it was definitely me

Stood up in front of all in laws at family meal and whacked 4 month old ds head on light fitting.
Left 10 month old ds in upstairs landing while I put clothes away as he'd never shown an interest in the stairs. He fell down the whole flight. Babies bounce the doctor told me

latest one: carried on chatting to my mum while toddler ds shut their bathroom door behind him. We quickly realised he'd then locked it and didn't know how to unlock it. We had to smash the door down in the end and ds was hysterical. Didn't help his fear of loud noises either!