JFF: I'm a Bad Parent Because...

I let my 3 year old have a piece of his leftover birthday cake for breakfast.....after he caught me eating a piece :)

oh wow lets see-
Five second Rule for anything that falls on the floor you can still eat it- I do clean
Hookey days from school and work- a couple times a year we just take the day off
I have FINALLY taught them not to correct my "white lies"
cookie dough- when I do bake
for dinner sometimes we have "pick night" you pick what you want to eat I dont care what it is- cake Fantastic-
I dont make them wash up for dinner always
I do let them climb into bed with me- even at 8 years old
I let them both play all the Xbox games- I play with them- one of these days I will be able to beat the 8 year old in Call of Duty- no kidding

That's funny Tracy posted about the cereal for dinner. I let my 4 year old eat cereal for dinner quite a bit. Maybe a couple of times a month. I also feed him things that some mommies would say are terrible--loaded with preservatives and ingredients you can't pronounce--like fish sticks, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, frozen pizza. I also only make him brush his teeth once a day. I know I should do twice a day, but usually in the morning, I'm just happy when he puts on his clothes without a fight! Oh yeah, the other mom reminded me--we do the 5 second rule as well. LOL

i let my 8 year old have a sip of my red wine............cuff me.:)

and i let them watch family guy..........gasp

I eat most of the cookie dough before my kids know I'm baking.

Hey, I want some too, dang it. ;o)

I let my kids go to the park on their bikes without me. For three or four hours at a time. They have a watch and come check in at appointed times.

I don't make them shower every day (but I probably will when they hit puberty!).

I don't freak out if they play outside in the dark.

I'm not afraid of "strangers," just know-it-all parents who want to tell my kids right from wrong (and whose kids are little sh*ts).

I sometimes have Dessert Before Dinner nights.

I don't make my kids clean their plates (do we force ourselves to eat as adults?).

I don't always make them wash their hands before meals.

I make them wash their own clothes. And fold them. And put them away. Because I hate laundry, and I think it's a good skill for kids to have.

There are loads more... ;o)

I let my sons use spray paint cans to graffiti their bedroom when they were about 9 and 10----- only because I was getting ready to put up a wallpaper of the world map in the immediate future. They had a blast writing stuff on the wall tho :).... word got out and the entire neighborhood of kids wanted to write something on the wall too. I'm sure other moms were pissed or thought I was a lunatic, but it's all good.

I know to be politically correct and germ-paranoid, you can't eat any uncooked batter or a fried egg with a soft yolk.

I've eaten batter from the chocolate chip cookie mix for at least 55 years and NEVER got sick from it. My mom and I did have fun together and bonded, but never got sick. Part of my love of cooking came from this time with my mom and grandmas. My grandma, born in 1890, said she used to get raw batter from cooking with her mom. She said when her mom wanted to make cookies she would have to go to the chicken coop and look for eggs. They didn't wash the eggs before cracking them to be placed in a bowl for the batter. She never told me about getting sick from the batter. In 1890 eggs weren't refrigerated. They were placed on the counter in stores at room temperature.

I have 8 kids. Each of them has eaten uncooked chocolate chip cookie dough, brownie batter mix, cake mix and soft yolked eggs all of their lives.

Don't be paranoid about germs. They are all around us. The best way to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands with soap and water before starting to cook.

Good luck to you and yours.

I let my kids have a popsicle everyday after school BEFORE dinner.

I let them stay up late with me on Wed and watch Survivor.

I let my kids eat jello before dinner last night and then........dinnner was lucky charms cereal! Dad was working late and we had parent teacher conferances and homework so rules are out the window.

On the same note, with a ditto to you and 8kidsdad....

I gave my kids honey water. I learned this from my mom. But one needs to boil the honey in water for a bit then add cold water and Voila! natural honeyed water.

I also use wooden cutting boards to debone chicken and work with raw meat. But I use Mineral Oil after cleaning with hot water and soap. Mineral Oil does not allow bacteria to grow.

I cooked for 9 people growing up and 5 to this day and no one has ever gotten sick.

We eat the batter too :)

I let my 7 y/o take the 4-wheeler down the driveway (about 125 yards) to go to the mailbox and get the mail....all by himself!

I let them watch TV in the evening while I try to get dinner on the table.

Both my boys pee in the shower when they are showering.

If they wake up from a bad dream, or whatever else, we let them climb in and sleep with us.

They both love to watch Cops with their Dad.

I sometimes give them small pieces of candy. Last weekend I let them have a piece of fudge. ( they are 14 months old)

I let my 12 year old eat pizza for breakfast yesterday(hey it has all 4 food groups), I let them have fast food like once a week....way too often IMO, and more often than not I do homework with my youngest in the morning before school....well because its usually only 20-30 min worth and I am exhausted after going to all the older kids practices and events and helping with their hours of homework, oh and just today I took my two youngest out of school an hour earlier so they could go watch their big sister cheer at the pep rally....bad I know.

Not to wash her hands after using the bathroom if mommy did the wiping or if it was just a number 1.

My three year old more often than not eats dinner in the nude because we are too lazy to make her put her underwear on.

But her maternal grandma takes the cake; she taught her that she can pee in the bath tub if no one else is taking a bath with her (been trying to undo that one ever since our summer visit).

That she can take toys away from her baby sister but she has to distract her with something better first.

my three year old can help herself to the gum (since she so far disposes of it properly)

I will count french fries from mcdonalds as a meal if we are in a hurry doing the grocery shopping and I let him watch tv so I can take a shower

We eat the batter.

We jump on the bed- its excercise!

We use the 5 second rule.

I don't always make my kids put on shoes when they go outside.

I haven't taken the bottle away from my 2 year old.

Last weekend, I gave the girls (6 and 8) coffee. They were hounding me for it, so I gave them coffee with lots of french vanilla creamer ;)

Sometimes, if my husband's working late, we eat ice cream, THEN have dinner when he gets home :)

On a serious note, I'm a bad parent because one year ago today, my son 'ate' a fish hook :(

Great post...i can't really think of anything new to add because my kids have done just about everything listed below. We do watch Family Guy with the kids (I know its bad but it goes over their heads).
I'm glad to read all the responses..sometimes when I read stuff on here, I question my parenting skills when it comes to food that I let my kids eat. They get fast food pretty often (1 or 2 times a week), they eat a lot of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pizza, ramen noodles and other kid favorites. My 3yr old would eat ramen noodles and mac and cheese 3 times a day if I would let her...lol!
Anyway, thanks for the great post and letting me know that I'm not horrible for all the things I let my kids do/eat!

So many things :)
- they eat raw cookie dough and cake batter (so good !)
- they play outside and go down the street by themselves
- they don't always have to have a bath (about 1 x per week)
- I let them eat cookies or cake for breakfast if we have it and the morning is stressful
- Way too much TV
there are probably so many more that I can't even think of !

Oh we eat the batter too! My husband gets so mad...apparently he was never allowed to and sides with the salmonella people.
They jump on their beds and jump on the couch. They are all in gymnastics, so it's hard to control!
We don't read books every night like we should.
They don't bathe every night like they should.
Sometimes, I let them eat dinner at their little table while watching TV.
I don't make them clean everyday (although I should, we run out of time!)
I love this post!

I buy my kids "Lunchables" - sodium schmodium. My husband watches reruns of Bevis and Butthead on his computer, with the kids looking over his shoulder. <GASP!> Well, just to clarify, he only shows the "OK" ones....

My son is not very brave--he has to study everything for awhile before he gives it a try. When he was a toddler, I encouraged him to climb on the coffee table and jump off!

I don't home cook every meal from scratch every day. I let her have McDonald's for lunch 2 or 3 times a week, once a week we get pizza for dinner, and at least once a week we eat out for dinner.

-we eat raw cookie dough
-when it rains we jump in puddles and when we lived on a culdesac we would go in the street and jump in puddles, sometimes shoe goes out J. in underwear and splashes like crazy
-she skips baths some nights
-i put her bed under the couch and she jumps off things onto it
-she jumps off picnic tables
-i encourage her to put her head under the hand dryer to blow her hair all over---but i have learned t watch she doesnt hit it on the way up
-i chase her like a 5 year old myself in the mall and run behind her and scare the living daylights out of her
-we blast the music in the car, we're oing to be deaf
-she still climbs in bed with M. in the middle of the night if she wakes up and she J. turned 5
-i conviced her she shrinks if she doesnt eat veggies
-desert for dinner nigths on occasion

Ha ha. Well, I think my "bad parent" moments would be :

Allowing my kids to pee at the park--behind a tree/rock/bush etc.

Forgetting to brush the kiddos teeth every night--sometimes i only get 1 good toothbrushing in.

My third confession: on really tough bedtime nights, I have allowed my kiddos to watch a little PBS or educational show before they go to sleep! :)

Wow, I didn't realize how many people lick the batter! (I work in public heath and just can't do it anymore... Salmonella anyone?)

But, my "bad mom" things are (my girl is almost 3):
Letting the TV babysit (especially when it's "mama & daddy" time)
Letting her eat as much cheese as she wants (I know it gets her clogged up, but she loves every kind of cheese)--I use it to get her to eat things she wouldn't normally eat!
Let her climb up and down the stairs by herself (sometimes without supervision)
Let her sit/play/wash in the bath by herself (door is open and I'm never far away)
We all enjoy our family hot tub (she especially loves it when it's cranked up to 102-104)!

To each his/her own!

I have taken waaay too many microbiology courses, won't eat sushi but cookie batter is not a battle I am going to fight!

I let them skip bathing some days if they haven't gotten too dirty. i had them addicted to mcdonald's fries by 2 years old. i use food as rewards sometimes.

We eat snow and make snow ice cream. I know you're not supposed to, but we avoid the yellow!!

We too eat the batter

There are times he wants peanut butter on a spoon. I figure, ehh it's protein. He could be eating worse.

I let the TV babysit when I'm trying to get something done or just want some quiet.

On those days when he's truly pushing me up the wall... and it's daylight savings time... and it's dark at 5:00... he goes to bed at 7:30 with me insisting that it's really late. (He will be learning to tell time soon and then that'll be over)

fun post!!! Glad to see that despite all our worrying we are all human and have those whatever moments!!

I've just stuck my kids feet in the sink to wash the visible mud sand off before bed....I sometimes use M&M's in the morning to "bribe" them to get out of the house faster (they are 2 and 4...lol)...I've let them eat PB&J for 2 meals some days....I've let them wear their jammie shirts to school under their sweater/sweatshirt because I don't feel like arguing about taking it off some mornings....I've let them throw all the couch pillows on the floor and jump on them so my husband and I can have some quiet (that's a relative term here) time at dinner!!!

We still let the kids ride in the back of the pick up truck. with myself/ husband or another adult with them. We don't go down highways or very far, if going across town ( to or from my dads house 3 blocks away) I will let them jump in the truck and away we go.

we always eat the batter also :) we also use our fingers to eat frosting out of the container.

We don't always eat healthy meals.

They watch more tv than they should.

We drink from the garden hose and dont have water filters in our house.

I let my daughter have sherbet or an ice pop before dinner. And yes she loves cold pizza for breakfast.

My son and I had his dad over and we had pizza for breakfast with chips and salsa. . . And when we are driving with my parents I let my son watch movies on the ipod. My parents apparently can't stand a little toddler crying moments so I need to keep him occupied and that is the only thing I have found to keep happy.

let my daughter eat a bony piece of fish cause she loves fish and she always is asking. She was bugging me so bad so i said fine... Since she has eaten it before and has been careful was not that concerned, until she started screaming and blood was coming out of her mouth. After a trip to the ER found a spine bone stuck in her TONSIL of all places. wow I felt like a terrible mom.

I let them eat batter all the time too.