What is the worst thought you've ever had about your kid(s)?

Honestly, I’m either lucky or a good parent, maybe both. My kids are awesome (ages 7, 16 and 18). The worst thought I’ve had is something terrible happening to them.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. What now?”

I’m easily overwhelmed.

@augustlan Well, when you put it that way. I change my answer. :)

I honestly can’t remember having bad thoughts about them. At times they have all done things that have left me pondering what on earth possessed them to do that? It has never been anything truly awful though and always it has been something I could understand (with time) was just part of them growing up and flexing their independence. I HAVE had thoughts that I am a crappy mother because I don’t think I got some element of bringing them up right .. lost my temper over something that really didn’t matter, nagged them about something I would have been better to ignore. I have certainly bent the ears of my friends about the messy rooms, not doing chores, the piercing I didn’t want them to get but really they are all good people with good hearts who are respectful to others and living productive lives.

I have been extremely frustrated by their inability to see through to the consequences of their actions. Someone remarked that you should never deny anyone the opportunity to learn from their own mistakes, and once I embraced that, it got a lot easier for me.

I must confess that at times I have enjoyed the image of putting each ( all teens) on the roof. I imagine myself waving upwards and saying something silly like “How’s the weather up there?” When they were younger I used to amuse myself and my friends by pondering what it would be like to purchase a dungeon at, say…“Dungeons R Us”. Of course the dungeon would have been a padded one. Sure would have come in handy on a Mommy frazzled day. In reality, though, No, the very idea of causing harm to my kids is counter to my very instinctive need to protect them. Maybe, though, I could purchase the dungeon for myself for a much needed retreat. That’s the ticket!

Aside from the obvious health or death issues, dreams of them not cleaning their room makes me wake up in a cold sweat,

They’re supposed to clean their rooms???

The worst thought I ever had about my daughter is that she’d grow up and hate me for not trying to work things out with her father. But in reality, I know that us splitting up was the best thing we could do for her. If we were unhappy, that unhappiness would have rubbed off on her. I love my daughter and I don’t want her to be miserable just because I am.

The second worst thought I’ve had was her falling into my footsteps, starting a family at 19 like I did without ever getting married… and choosing the wrong guys. I always seem to pick the assholes/over protective/boring/disgusting guys.

@JilltheTooth: I bet Grandpa said the same thing. :P

I have a friend with a three-year-old daughter who will call her a brat in an exasperated fashion never within earshot of the child. In the same breath, she will say how much she loves her wiggle, though. :)

@KatawaGrey : Your grandfather had been a Marine. Remind me sometime to tell you the “inspection” stories!

My daughter is 23 now and the worst thoughts I ever had were during the trying teen years, mostly between about 15–19.

Typical mother/daughter clash zone. lol

I never wished I did not have her, but, there was a phase where I didn’t LIKE her, even though I loved her.

Once I kicked her out of the car and left her with her cell phone at a shopping mall on a 104 degree day after she had a tantrum when I missed a turn to a restaraunt she wanted to have lunch at and accused me of deliberatly missing the turn.

She was shocked!
Yep, I pulled over and said ‘GET OUT!’ call your dad, call a friend, enjoy the weather! hahaha

Now, we have the greatest relationship and she is a delight in her maturity.

@aLittleBit I love your answer! I love all of your answers! Thank you for being honest! Lurve to you all!

AHHHHHH! He is acting just like ME!
Sometimes I think (and say under my breath) some pretty awful things.

what bothers me the most is seeing my own faults in my children

@valdasta

Yep, the little acorn doesn’t fall far from the Oak. haha

I happen to LOVE seeing some of my traits in my daughter, infact, just yesterday I was laughing, we had a hangout day and she was sharing some frustrations about her room mate.

I was secretly cracking up when she said ’ I told her you ought to count your blessings, you got lucky’ in regards to being pulled over for running a stop sign and the room mate complaining the cops were stupid. lol

When she shares this stuff with me I smile, it’s a good feeling as a parent to see that your child WAS listening and HAS adopted the good values and morals she was taught. :-)

@Coloma Thanks. I was getting depressed just now thinking of all the bad stuff my kids have picked up from me. They got some good stuff, too (mostly from my wife).

My oldest is 10 going on 16, and boy does she have the attitude to go with it. My worst days, I’ve thought, “Oh.My.God. What a brat!” and, “Holy shit, I can’t wait til she moves out!” and I’ve occasionally pondered the benefits of ducttaping her to the wall for an hour or so… just for an hour of calm. But then she does something else that’s adorable and I can’t stay mad at her. =0)

@WillWorkForChocolate

LOL I know. I always joke that you can’t imagine them being gone when they are little, but, just you wait….once they do go then you hope they will never come back again. haha

I seriously thought I was raising a sociopath when my son was 3, 4, 5. And perhaps he would have turned out that way had we not accessed every form of help we could possibly access. He is one passionate kid and he’s been a parenting challenge.

Since being sexually abused by my father , I had the terrible feeling that my sons would do the same thing to their children . Thank the Lord I was wrong
I’ve lived that fear since my sons were born and this is the first time I’ve admitted this .
Thank you for letting me open up with your question , I feel pain and relief at the same time .

Tears are pouring down my cheeks just knowing I had this thought in my heart

@Pattijo Hugs! I can see that has been a fear of yours for awhile. It is so good to let it go. I am sure you did a wonderful job…the legacy is broken!

@ladymia69 , Thank you so much for your kind words , they mean alot to me .

It was a standing joke at my work that sometimes I threatened to make them live in the garage! Then they all moved out, my house was still, tidy, food remained inthe fridge! Now 2 of them are back, but it’s different as we are all adults now.

I have to say while I haven’t thought of putting my kids in a dungeon etc. I have wished I could be moved to a padded cell with a few good books and some peace and quiet on occasions. I like the roof and garage options too.

@Coloma Heh heh! I’ve thrown my kids out of the car before…oh, you’ll like this one. My daughter brought home a baby DUCK one day. Who knows why, but she kept it up in her room in a box, but sometimes she’d let it run around so that it could crap on things. I knew that if I said the duck had to go she’d have a shit fit, in fact, she was counting on me to get upset so she could yell! (Teenagers!) So I kept quiet.
Well we were driving somewhere not far from home, and she had that damn duck-in-a-box with her. I got ticked about something, and threw her out of the car. As I drove away I realized I still had the duck. So I circled around the block, opened the window, shoved the box at her and yelled, ”And take your duck with you!!!!!“I was really really mad…....and I drove away again…..and suddenly my anger evaporated and I felt the giggles welling up. I glanced in the rear view mirror, and sure enough, she had a grin on her face too! It didn’t mean we had a truce yet, so I didn’t double back again (she was only a few blocks from home) but it went a long way toward it!
A couple of days later she asked if I’d take her to release the duck in the park. So we did. But ”Take your duck with you!!!!” has a permanent place in our family vernacular!

@Dutchess_III

LOL, I swear, sometimes….I was so mad when I left my daughter that I almost ran over a little old lady in the parking lot.

THAT would have been just perfect!

My daughter had a tank of Madagascar hissing cockroaches that moved out with her. :/

Some parts of raising kids are better when they become memories. haha

LOL!! Yeah! Thank goodness my son waited till he moved out to get three boa constrictors, and other various frogs, snakes, spiders and whatnot! He has an entire room set aside in his house for them!

One day when my daughter was about 14 and behaving like a real drama queen I called her a selfish bitch, the words came out all on their own, we were both shocked, I had never spoken to her like that before, I seem to remember that she was quite conciliatory after that… I would never encourage swearing at one’s children but I think it is good for them to be confronted with a parent’s true feelings from time to time.

@Adagio Good for you! I mean, the not cussing. I didn’t cuss either, not even when I was angry….I don’t think. I’ll have to ask my kids. My daughter said the ‘F’ to me one time. Was the last time, too! There is a time for what appears to be insane violence about to descend on a kid’s head!
People who cuss around their kids just…..man! I want to slap them! And people who let their kids cuss…they need to know about the appearance of insane violence. Works wonders.

@Coloma Some parts of raising kids are better when they become memories

So true, so true. Some of the stories that we all laugh about now are the ones where I was afraid to even touch the offending child for fear I would break them I was so mad.

Tell you what….it wasn’t till my kids were grown and gone that I realized you can set just about anything out on he curb and someone will take it. I wish I’d known that when they were teenagers!

Katawagrey never had “terrible twos” but the threes were…well…interesting. I’m being kind, she’ll probably see this and I remember wanting to get her herown apartment. Really wanting to get her her own apartment…

@JilltheTooth LOL!! I had one of those! My oldest was 5, and really mad at me. Decided she wanted to move to the garage. I said fine, but then started outlining the problems with living in the garage…no heat, no running water. So we spent the better part of a day working up blue prints and figuring out solutions to various problems. Dad comes home from work. Jen says, “I’m moving out to the garage! Will you help me fix it up?”
Dad says, “Sure!”
I screamed “NOOOOOO!!! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!!! SHE’S SERIOUS!!!!”