Top Two Embarassing Parenting Moments

Today I was reflecting on two moments in my children's lives that I will never live down with my family and friends. I can live with one but the other incident I fear will cost me. We'll see...


My first experience as a young parent was Miranda's year in 1st grade. At that time my children would go home to my parents house down the street and wait until I picked them up after work. A family member recently moved out and my mother decided to make that area a playroom for the kids. Several days after this takes place I get a call at work from my daughter's teacher requesting an immediate parent/teacher conference. I had to rush over that very moment. I pick up my purse and run out with the understanding from the teacher that it was not an emergency regarding my childs well-being but it did involve her. My mind starts racing and knowing Miranda I start to think did she bite, kick, or scratch another little kid? Yes, that's my daughter, but let's move on.

I get to the school and several parents are standing there with her teacher looking at me as if I had committed this heinous crime, even one had her arms crossed in disgust. Oh, I was ready, I felt I was about to have a fight. The teacher starts explaining to me Miranda was guilty of handing out balloons to her little friends and parents have found their children playing with them. One mother exclaimed in Spanish that I need to put my personal items away and out of the reach of my children. I asked "what balloons?" "Condoms!" yells another parent. The Spanish speaking mother proceeds to tell me while driving her son back home, she looks through her review mirror to see this red balloon but when it accidently deflates and flies to the front seat she almost wrecks seeing it's a condom. She makes a quick U-turn and calls for the teacher and at the same time other parents marched their way back in naming my child the culprit. Beautiful! I can see this in her scrapbook: First grade, The Time Miranda Promoted Safe Sex. The teacher came up with a gameplan for the next day. She said she would ask the students to return the balloons Miranda gave them as she found them outside and they may have cooties. Okay, cooties was not my choice of an answer but who cares at this point.

I apologized again for any inconvenience, even though no one believed me, I hurried my child out of there and ran! I immediately drove to my parents house and explained the situation and my father gives my mother a deathly glare and said "I thought you said you cleaned that room woman!" My mother said, "I did, I did!" She ran back into the room to look at what she may have overlooked. Needless to say there was a stash hidden in the closet underneath the floor carpeting and somehow Miranda found it. I asked her, why she gave her friends balloons and of course in sweet childlike fashion she responded "cuz I wanted to share." Now how can you argue with that?



My second and most shocking experience would have to be my daughter Marissa's second grade first communion. First Communion? Not difficult at all you would say, I thought the same thing. For weeks we worked to get her the dress she wanted, the shoes, and her tiara. She wanted little white flowers on her skirt so I went to a fabric store and bought the darn things and hand sewed them on. I fixed her tiara where I had sewed the veil and we were set! I was impressed with my work and excited about my daughter's enthusiasm about her big day. You see, Marissa is an introvert and at that time it took a lot for my child to get excited about anything.

The day arrives, I make pancakes, and made sure she bathed early and everything. We get ready, camera in hand, all my other children are dressed and ready to go. I drive up to the church and as we are walking up to the entrance her second grade teacher walks out wailing her arms asking "Where have you been?" I answered "Are we supposed to be somewhere else?" She answered "Mass just ended, and communion rites have been given, you missed it." All I could see was my daughter's mouth open in shock. I had the wrong time written on my agenda for her communion! Instead of arriving at 9:00 like all her classmates and their families, we pranced up there at 10:00! I don't know how many times I apologized for what happened, she didn't even cry. Luckily her teacher said, there will be another communion ceremony next weekend and she can do it with the Sunday school students. Marissa's face lit up and said, "that's okay mommy, I can do it next weekend." As I walked back to my car to go home all I could think about was "How much therapy is this going to cost me in the future?"