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humilimom
Humilimom—as in humiliated mom. That was me at Target two weeks ago. My five-year-old—five-year-old!— threw a fit there, right after I had said good-bye to my well-put-together friend Danielle. I was hoping she would not be privy to my child’s outburst of emotion, but she walked by during phase one of the tantrum. When we arrived at the checkout line, we were in phase 2—the loudest phase, and there was Danielle, four check out lines down, with her three lovely daughters.
By this time, everyone could hear my daughter screaming. She sounded like Veruca Salt’s evil twin. I was far too embarrassed to make eye contact with anyone in the store who might have the I-would-never-let-my-kid-act-like-that face, so I did something I’m not a fan of: I covered her mouth. She could breathe just fine, but the second she did, she got a bloody nose. Yes, people probably thought I hit her.
It would be painful for me to continue to tell the story of such a low point in my time as a mother. So, I’ll just tell you the car ride home turned into a lecture to all three of my children on the evils of becoming spoiled brats.
I finally saw Danielle on Sunday. She was out of town for a few weeks—enough time for our display to become a cloudy memory, and enough time for the red in my cheeks to fade. I apologized, and we had a laugh. I suppose all families have their moments—even if they aren’t as humiliating as mine was.
7 Responses to “humilimom”
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Jaime, This is Ryan’s mom. Your account of the Target incident was nice — no, it was really, nniiice. I just wanted to assure you that MY children NEVER acted like that in the store. But that’s because I was Mommy Dearest: I carried a wooden spoon in my purse at all times, after my mother suggested it. Her exact words were, “I wouldn’t take those kids anywhere without a wooden spoon.” And the world has been a better place for it. Keep up the good work, and never hide your shame!
My mom just had a look that was worse than a wooden spoon. We should take lessons from her:-)
Don’t worry. I had that scene tiimes 5 with my daughter. We were…I think…so much alike, so stubborn and so ready to draw the line in the sand. The other day my daughter, now 32, brought up one of those horror in public moments saying, oh Mom, I’m still so sorry about that, you must have been SO embarrassed, I don’t even know why I did that! You were so patient with me. Well, all I could say is *sniff sniff* I’m just glad we can have this conversation! You mean I wasn’t the world’s worst Mom?? She tells me stories all the time of how amazing I was, and how much she was…oh golly, a child!
So hang in there. Strong wills are tough, mother/daughter times can be rough. But, as I tell her, love covers a multitude of mistakes. We laugh so much now, about times that we thought, at the moment, we’d never recover from.
It DOES get better!
[...] women’s shelter. When they both threw major tantrums (akin to the aforementioned fit in the humilimom post), I had no choice but to leave the cart at the store. The workers had to put everything [...]
There is no reason to be humiliated, but there is also no reason to subject an entire store to a screaming fit from your child. March them out of the store immediately. Unless you were buying medicine… there really is no excuse to put everyone else (let alone you) through that. There is nothing you need THAT badly at Target. Try again another time, and if she starts to throw a fit again, you remind her of the last walkout. Worked for me…and my mom, and my sisters, and my girlfriends!
Oh, mercy. I’ve sooo been there. Our grandest fit throw was at the library in the middle of check-out so we had no escape.
I apologized sheepishly to the check-out lady and said: “I bet this happens from time to time, doesn’t it?”
To which she responded icily:
“No. Not really.”
Humilimom. Yes. I can relate.
ha ha. i have three boys. this is my life. one time in the dollar store my youngest demanded i give him five bucks. i said, “excuse me?!” like i couldn’t have expected such demanding rudeness to come out of a child of mine. then he screeched, “You promised! for that foot massage i gave you!” try getting rid of the face redness after that