What are the origins of this fun-filled festive custom?
Every parent should try to keep their kids’ screen time to a minimum, but sometimes you just need your kid to be distracted by a tablet in order to get stuff done!
Especially after having experienced the giant, burning spotlight when your own kid had a meltdown in public, it can be weirdly comforting to see it happening to someone else.
New parents have all run to their baby’s crib to check if they’re still breathing. They just look so peaceful! Many parents have also shaken their kid out of sleep for the same reason, in case you were wondering when that anxiety was supposed to wear off.
It’s hard being so accessible to needy children, so sometimes the only place parents can enjoy a little privacy and mental space is in the bathroom. It’s strange, but most parents associate a sanctuary with a toilet.
It’s natural to want to know what your kids are up to and who they’re spending time with. Even though it’s a breach of trust, some parents go snooping. It’s not so morally offensive if it’s just healthy monitoring of their social media.
The most shameful and yet the most relatable secret of all, most parents have at least once pretended to be asleep so that the other parent had to get up for that middle-of-the-night diaper change.
When your kids come first, it’s suddenly easy to neglect your most basic needs. Many parents have made a meal of their kids' leftovers on more than a few occasions. It’s better than wasting it!
Parents love their children more than anything, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still feel jealous of their childless friends who get to do what they want and go where they please at any time that suits them.
Honesty is the best policy—or so we tell our kids. In truth, sometimes it’s just easier to tell little white lies to protect their innocence, avoid uncomfortable topics, or just get them to stop annoying you. The ice-cream store is inexplicably closed tonight? Guess they’ll have to stop whining at least for today.
They wanted to do something sweet and brought you breakfast in bed, but you hated every bite of it. It’s the thought that counts…
On the other hand, parents can also become a little spiteful when their childless friends complain about being tired. These are all very natural, reflexive feelings that shouldn’t carry shame—but probably also shouldn’t be uttered aloud!
There’s no time to get to the store but the kids have to eat breakfast before school—what to do? Taste a bit of the expired milk just to make sure it’s okay, and remind yourself that you’re pretty sure you read somewhere that expiry dates are a little premature anyway.
Kids lose a lot of teeth, and that’s a lot of change to have on hand. Almost every parent has made up some ridiculous excuse for the tooth fairy not coming.
All parents dread the day their kids ask them for help with homework they themselves don’t understand. If you’ve tried to hide that you’re counting on your fingers to help them with simple math, you’re not alone.
While sifting through their haul to make sure it’s all safe, you pocket a few of your favorite gummies and chocolates. It’s just a little tax to pay for the price of taking them through the best neighborhoods all evening, and it makes the annual event exciting for everyone.
The kids come first, which sometimes means your shower comes last. Plus, you heard how crazy everyone went over the celebrity bathing debate, so there’s no way you’re telling the truth!
There’s nothing like receiving unsolicited parenting advice that makes you want to punch someone square in the face.
Maybe you awoke to find them standing next to your bed and staring at you in the dark like a paranormal thriller, or they tore apart their plush animal and you're worried that maybe you're raising a serial killer. It happens to the best!
Some days it feels impossible to get up and get the kids dressed and fed on time for school, so you call them in sick and you all lounge in bed a little longer.
It comes out of desperation, when you want to warn your kid not to do something but either lack the words or don’t want to attract attention in public. These faces are highly secret even to those making them, and they should not be practiced in the mirror for risk of never being able to take yourself seriously again.
Sources: (The List) (Mom.com)
Even the most prepared parents run out of wipes in public, and sometimes that means spit-shining food or dirt stains off your kid’s face.
Nothing can be gross anymore when you’re trying to raise a kid. It becomes so normal to put your nose close to poop.
Overexhaustion can make you do crazy things, like cradling and rocking a baby that isn’t even in your arms.
Every parent wants to sound like they’ve got their kids on a routine and triumphantly get them to bed at the same time every night, but that’s rarely ever the case.
You make a note to yourself immediately afterwards that you have got to start hanging out with adults more often.
It can feel like an impossible task to get your kids to eat vegetables, which is why most parents have resorted to trendy recipes online that hide veggies in kid-favorite foods. We’d like to take a moment of silence for all the broccoli tater tots that ended up in the trash…
Whistles, kazoos, horns, and other noise-making toys that are typical of party favor bags just mysteriously disappear, and no parent ever knows where they went.
Sometimes it's the only thing your picky kid will eat, and sometimes it's all you have the energy to make. It's okay, at least they're being fed!
Have you ever caught yourself doing the exact thing you recently yelled at your kid for doing? You’ve officially joined the parent club.
If you get to a point in your life where you’re ready to have kids, it becomes a wonder to you how your own parents pulled it off. New parents often feel like they're hardly keeping it together when compared to others, but there’s a big secret that unites all parents: everyone feels that way!
The shortcuts and secret things you do as a parent are likely the same things your parents did, and they are things that even those model moms and do-gooder dads are doing when no one’s watching. After all, as long as your kid is happy and healthy, it’s fine to cut a few corners for your own sanity!
Click through to see the most hilariously relatable things that all parents do, but hardly any will ever admit to.
30 things parents secretly do (but will never admit to)
Most parents would rather take these secrets to their graves!
LIFESTYLE Parenting
If you get to a point in your life where you’re ready to have kids, it becomes a wonder to you how your own parents pulled it off. New parents often feel like they're hardly keeping it together when compared to others, but there’s a big secret that unites all parents: everyone feels that way!
The shortcuts and secret things you do as a parent are likely the same things your parents did, and they are things that even those model moms and do-gooder dads are doing when no one’s watching. After all, as long as your kid is happy and healthy, it’s fine to cut a few corners for your own sanity!
Click through to see the most hilariously relatable things that all parents do, but hardly any will ever admit to.