Whatt have you done since becoming a parent that you swore blind you would never do?

[CranberryMartini]

1. Given ds a toy in the supermarket to keep him quiet (and put back on shelf before check-out!).

1. Stopped tantrums with promises of 'bisbies' (Organix).

1. Used disposable nappies (gave up on reusables at 6 weeks).

1. Allowed ds to become addicted to something which I know I will have problems with later (bottle).

1. Spent far too much money on toys.

1. Driven round in car just to get ds to sleep.

1. Given ds fishfingers, chips, chicken nuggets on a regular basis (but the fishfingers are M & S so hopefully that cancels out the others).

1. Picked off cradle cap with my nails.

1. Eaten regurgitated raisins.

10. Said "Oh just give him anything he wants as long as it keeps him quiet!"

Please tell me I'm not the only one!

luckily me and DH are brunettes

I spend my evenings talking to strangers on the internet

put them to bed half an hour before bed time because i couldn't be bothered anymore
give dummy to ds3 who has cleft lip and palate, now has me tortured
tell them go watch tv
wisper empty threats in town when ds1 is throwing tantrum
give 'the look' in public
bring into my bed for a bit of peace
fast food

I swore I'd bring my children up in an environmentally friendly way, but

I try to dress them in hand-me-downs as much as possible, but I can never resist the beautiful new clothes I see in Primark and they're too cheap to be left behind!

I used terry nappies on my DS and DD1, then I used eco-friendly disposable nappies on DD2 - but find them too expensive and now use Pampers!

I end up buying them toys as bribes.

I drive them to school and back every weekday. Theoretically I could walk, but I'd need a triple buggy as it's a 3-mile walk - a little too long for little feet.

So I'm afraid my carbon footprint is a little bigger than I intended...

dummy
smack
argue in front of them with DH
cut their hair (had romanticised vision of long haired boys - DS1 has short hair but leaving DS2 cos he has blonde curls )
administer drugs to get them back to sleep (medised drug of choice)
lose my temper as often as I do

Turn the television on with a flourish to get some peace. Then let them watch it for far too long.

Shout 'Oh just be quiet, you're driving me insane', when they are all fighting.

Seek out chupa lollies in the supermarket, so I can get around the shop.

Threaten to cancel birthday parties, presents and christmas when they are being particularly annoying. Obviously never follow these threats through.

Given DD chocolate buttons

Gone out with stains on both my clothes and DDs clothes because after the fourth change of the day, I really don't care.

let DS watch far too much television

Not tidy up all the lego and all the rest of it piled on his bedroom floor, the landing, the sitting room floor etc - and tidy it up myself in the end and not make him do it.

Let him have pudding even if he hasn't tasted his main course

Make him wear shoes to school that he doesn't like

feed him on pizza and chips too often

leave dd to cry sometimes because I can't face it

use disposable nappies

be inconsistant

shout

The only things I think I ever solidly resolved not to do were smacking and wiping faces with licked tissues, and I've done neither (come very close with both though). It's a good job I set my standards low though, as I've done just about everything mentioned above ... apart from the regurgitated raisins, although I did get a load of those in my bra once, I wasn't tempted to consume them.

I take perverse delight in trotting out the parental cliches, DH gets irritated with me for saying 'because I say so' but REALLY, you do run out of answers for a 3yo who's stuck in a the 'why?' rut ...

We've said things like "Because I said so." When they say "Why? they sometimes don't really want to know why, they want a reason which is weak enough to argue against. So "because I said so" is the easy way of short-circuiting that tedious process.

I really hope I never say anything like "You'll find out, when you get older!" (in smug voice). Because my mother still says it now, and it;s the most irritating, patronising thing imaginable...

Shouted up the stairs. 'Turn that bloody music down' to teenage DS, to make it worse found myself doing the same to 12 year old DGD as well Argggggggggggggggggggggg Two generations, I really have turned in to my Mom!!!!

all of the above except smack
actually did smack once then lied to dd and preteded it was accident..

argue with dp particularly so

said 'stop showing off'

humiliate ds by telling him off in front of freinds

sarcasm

am onebadmother

Said "stop mithering" and "we'll see"

Mithering!! I've not heard that one in years! Where does it originate?

When one of my four children misbehaves, eventually I have to say: "That is quite enough!" in a very stern, horrible voice. In fact, in the same stern, horrible voice that my mother used for me and my three sisters (although she used to flounce out of the room at the same time so I have that to work towards). Apart from anything else, the phrase is not very pedants' corner is it?

used a dummie

said "because i said so" with an air of finality about it....

am hoping not to graduate to "everyone has not got one, you haven't"

After older child and younger child fighting, telling the older child off 'because YOU'RE the oldest and should know better!'

Remember my mum doing this to me when my youngest sister had been winding me up and I vowed never to do it to mine

Nearly all of the above, but the one I am most remorseful about is smaking - it's been rare, but I have done it. It doesn't work, it's usually because I'm well and truely wound up - it's wrong.

However.... I am a great Mum (most of the time).

I once licked a tissue and tried to scrub a dirty mark off dd1's face.

After that I made sure I always had wipes in my handbag

Mithering = said with East Midlands accent!!

And also said tonight instead of offering long explanation,

"You won't understand"

Shouted at my children in public.

God, I can see myself doing it and I look like an old ranting fishwife.

everything - dummies, co sleeping, feeding to sleep, using pudding as a bribe, the list goes on and on and on - serves me right for being so bloody opinionated before I gave birth....