Have you ever told your children something, and then regretted it?

My daughter never forgets everything and when she was a teenager, it was always “remember when you said…” Argh!

Of course, this happens to all parents quite frequently.

My daughter (43 yrs old) called me a year ago and said, “Mom, do you remember that you told me you would do anything for me, no matter what? ”

MIlo arrived two weeks later.

yes, I lost my temper once when my daughter threw coco pops all over the car (you know, the little round ones). While I was trying to change tyres in a snowstorm. I told her I’d had enough and I’d send her back to her mum. Which is terrible if you know how scared she is of her. And it would be even worse if she was older and said something like “fine then, you do that”. I apologised straight away and gave her a hug.

Once when I was in the car with my two boys, I got fed up with all the noise they were making. I yelled, “You guys are going to make my ears bleed if you don’t stop!” They got really quiet, but for several days if someone was loud one of them would ask me, “Are your ears going to bleed now?” They were very worried, and even though I still think it’s funny I wish I hadn’t put that thought into their heads.

@MissAusten – Wow, that worked? Tempting. I better not try to use it, my son would try to test the theory!

I have learned I can never tell my son when we are planning to do something fun. Say going to the zoo. If I say, “We’re going to the zoo on Saturday.” That’s all I hear about, all week. Then, by some huge cosmic joke, it pours on Saturday, my son will say, “So, are we still going to the zoo?” That is soon followed by, “Mommy, now when are we going to the zoo?”

Also, I used the line I should have never used. Don’t make that face, or your face will freeze that way. Yeah, again, the son. (the daughter is so past these things!) He points out to me, daily, that he’s been making the same face, for several days now, and it’s not frozen, yet. grrrr!

yes

Of course not, I would never say something I didn’t really mean.

no, but I have told them some things THEY wish I hadn’t.

@Yarnlady, I wasn’t talking about saying things I don’t mean. Just things I regret.

For example, telling my kids about how their dad, as a toddler, ate the tips off of several markers and had “rainbow poo.”

Or how the first thing my daughter did when she was born was pee on the doctor. How was I supposed to know they’d repeat these stories to everyone on the planet?

Or telling them it was April Fools day and then finding a carrot in my pillowcase.

That kind of regret. :)

LOL! That is the funniest April Fool’s joke I’ve heard in a long time—a carrot in the pillowcase! It’s just so SILLY! How old are they?

They are 10, 5, and 4. They certainly are a trip! I think the carrot was the 5 year old’s idea. My 10 year old had a better joke that actually worked on me—she switched the Cheerios to the Captain Crunch box, and the Captain Crunch to the Cheerios box. When I went to get myself some Cheerios for breakfast, I got some nasty Captain Crunch instead.

One of these days they’ll figure out that the best way to get to me is to sabotage my morning coffee. They may not live to laugh about it though!