Hi, my name is Gabriella and I am an imperfect parent.

While the internet drags two parents (well, mainly the mom) through the mud after their preschooler fell 15 feet into a Gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo (read here), I thought I would express my empathy for parents of small kiddos by rounding up my own top 5 parent fails following the birth of my first born in 2010. I currently parent 3 kids (ages 5, 4 and nearly 3) alongside my hubby. We love our kids dearly, they are our ‘why’ and our world revolves around them. We are also human. We are not perfect and we make mistakes.

1. Car Seat Slip-Up One beautiful afternoon I decided to take the kiddos for ice cream (lemonade for the allergy-kiddo) and a trip through the car wash (apparently tons of fun). As I turned the corner from my country road onto the main thoroughfare, my youngest son began screaming and laughing. Assuming he was playing with his toy, I continued driving. That is, until my daughter yelled to tell me that her brother was upside down. One anxious glance in the rearview mirror confirmed her statement. While he was buckled in, the seat itself was not and he was precariously dangling between the back bench and the captain’s chairs in front of him. Needless to say, we made a careful exit into a parking lot while I rearranged his chair.

2. Runaway Kids Just this weekend, my husband and I were home with the kiddos. My husband had our attached car garage door open as he was going back and forth between the front yard and the house doing some outdoor work. The kids were playing a board game in the family room. At one point I headed upstairs to look for something and unbeknownst to me, my hubby who had been on the main floor near the kids, simultaneously went downstairs to use the restroom. After locating the item I realized it had become eerily quiet downstairs. Low and behold, the game had been abandoned and the back door to the garage was open. Flinging open the screen door, I discovered all three kiddos running and playing in the driveway without a care in the world.

   

3. Disappearing Act On a cold winter afternoon following days of being cooped up inside, I decided to venture out with the little ones to our favorite kiddie play place. After getting everyone inside and set up to play, my youngest asked for help with his shoes. I bent over to help him and by the time I looked up, my older two had disappeared from where they had been sitting just moments earlier. Assuming they went off together, I called for my eldest who quickly came trotting back from around the corner. She was alone. After a few panicked moments calling my missing son’s name while dragging my other two in vice-grips behind me, I eventually attracted the attention of a friendly worker who helped in the search. He was recovered quickly, playing in a pit of foam blocks having the time of his life!

4. TSA Trip-Up Some years back, my husband, our three kids and I were traveling internationally to visit family. I carried my youngest (who at the time was 6 months) in a baby carrier on my chest, my middle son was on one of those child backpack leashes (he was 20 months) and my daughter (2.5 years) held our hand. When we reached security I overheard some passengers who were on the flight with us remarking how ‘horrible’ and ‘inhumane’ the child harnesses were. Already disgruntled trying to make it through security with kids, luggage and car seats, it took everything I had not to say something snide in return. Upon reaching TSA we were asked to remove my sons from their respective restraint devices. Once off the leash, my middle son bolted through the scanner. My husband was told he could not pass through until he was cleared, despite the fact that the kid was clear on the other side and making his little way out of the security area. Thankfully an attentive passenger heard the commotion and managed to grab my son before he exited security. Once allowed through, my husband collected my son, thanked the stranger and returned the escapee to his bear pack leash. 

5. Parking Lot Patrol After a surprisingly uneventful trip to Target, I (along with my trio) returned to the car to load up the groceries. Each kid sat strapped into their shopping cart seats (we managed to snag the three seater). As is custom, I unhooked my youngest son first and got him situated in his car seat. I returned to the cart which sat at the back of my car only to find that both my oldest daughter and middle son had helped each other remove their seatbelts and were playing at the rear bumper, precariously close to the car lane. When my son saw my face he started to run away, just as a car (who thankfully saw him in plenty of time) was making its way down the aisle. Due to the driver’s precautionary parking lot driving speed, my son was spared.

Moral of the story, even the most well-meaning moms, when faced with the difficult task of juggling other kids, groceries, husbands and the like, can easily become distracted. Kids are ridiculously speedy and incredibly tenacious. When they see an opportunity, they seize it and can be gone from your side in the blink of an eye. I am grateful that God has had a hand in the safe-keeping of my littles thus far and I work hard to increase my multi-tasking skills every day.

I pray for the little one who fell, for the mom and family during this difficult time as well as for the staff of the CZ who surely mourn the loss of a beloved friend. I am hopeful that this incident has taught everyone (parents and non-parents alike) how important it is to be aware of our surroundings and how simply slowing down, lending a hand or saying something when we see something can make all the difference in the world.

Have you had a parent-fail or have you witnessed one? What happened and how did you handle the situation?