22 Notable Parent Fails That Were Less Than Perfect

Some parents know what it takes to handle their children's tantrums like a pro, while others, like those mentioned in this article, don't see what is coming their way. These folks experienced embarrassing parenting fails that ultimately made it to Reddit.

Many dream of becoming parents and holding their little ones in their arms for the first time, but not everyone is ready for the rollercoaster ride ahead of them. Embarking on the journey of parenthood means people have to deal with their child's tantrums, unexpected senseless requests, and many other problems that seem to have no solutions.

Since everybody's parenthood journey is different, no universal parenting handbook can teach new parents how to deal with their children. The lessons come with experience as one's child grows up and comes up to them with new problems every day.

Many people experience some embarrassing moments during their parenthood journey. A few people on Reddit opened up about such parenthood fails, leaving other users wondering how to make sense of the situation.

Comments have been revised for clarity and grammatical accuracy.

1. The Accidental Pregnancy

u/ThrowAwayRagees: When I was in my early 20s, I accidentally got pregnant because my IUD failed to prevent it. At first, I planned on getting an abortion, but people around me suggested I should keep my baby.

Fast forward to now, my child is living a good life. He goes to school, wears nice clothes, gets his food on time, has friends, and goes on vacations frequently.

However, I agree that he thinks I should do better as a mother. I've been a terrible mother because of my mental health issues. I'm not good at this.

2. They Didn't Care

u/mauxly: I was assisting a commercial river trip in the Grand Canyon, and this one set of parents simply didn't seem to care what their kids did.

First instance: we warned them NOT to ever swim in the Colorado River because it would be instant death. We were sitting on the boats as the sun went down and saw a kid swimming past the boats in the middle of the river with no life jacket.

We freaked out, got the rescue line out, and started yelling at him to get out of the river. His parents didn't say a word to him. He did it again the next night.

Second instance: I told one of the kids NOT to climb up a dangerous slope and told him not to in front of his parents. The kid climbs up the dangerous slope in front of his parents. His dad looking on as though everything is fine.

Third and most infuriating instance: the kids were carving their names in the rock at a pristine and protected archaeological site on the river. Jesus Christ!

I had to regain my composure and tell them to stop nicely and why it was uncool for them to do that. I looked away, and they were right back at it, carving away.

If you are on an outdoor adventure, you should know that the guides are NOT BABYSITTERS. Kids are welcome on trips, but you must watch them.

3. The Unacceptable Behavior

u/HallNum032: I noticed my 16-year-old daughter had been misbehaving, constantly commenting on other people's looks and belongings, calling them stuff that wasn't cool, and just being insensitive.

I've sat with my daughter and had many discussions about how her behavior has negatively affected everyone around her.

Our housemaid is the person most affected here, and my daughter has chosen her to be her target for hair, clothes, and "etiquette" criticism.

She has complained about our daughter calling her offensive names like "filthy" and "gross" for cleaning certain areas in our house.

I took a stand and explicitly told my daughter I'd punish her if she ever said stuff like that to our housemaid again.

Last week, my daughter had a party to go to. Earlier that day, she called our housemaid "filthy," so I grounded her by not letting her go to the party. She threw a fit and called our housemaid a liar, saying she never called her that. That was the end of it.

Days later, my daughter came to me saying she couldn't find her iPhone after looking everywhere. She asked me to call her number, and I did.

My wife and I were stunned to discover the iPhone ringing inside our housemaid's bag. I immediately confronted her, and she denied it and cried, saying she never touched the phone nor had any idea how it got there.

I noticed my daughter calling her thief repeatedly, so I told her to stop and go to her room. Before continuing the argument, I checked the indoor camera and saw my daughter place her iPhone inside our housemaid's bag. I was livid.

I apologized to the housemaid and gave her the rest of the day off. I then showed the video to my daughter, and she was absolutely speechless.

I told her she was grounded and would have to spend the night in the backyard (she is a germaphobe), but she cried, begging me not to make her sleep with the dirt, insects, and hot temperature. I refused to discuss it, or I'd make it two nights.

4. Blaming Me for My Health Problems

u/wellgolly: My father used to blame my health problems on being lazy to avoid getting me to a doctor. I mean, he still does, but now I'm old enough to go myself.

To avoid sounding like a hypochondriac, I'll give the last one that happened: I lost hearing in my left ear for a couple of days. My dad said it's because I don't clean out my ears.

He also said I was just tired when I had breathing problems when I was 12. He genuinely seemed to think I didn't know what being tired felt like.

I didn't get to see a doctor until I got lightheaded and passed out. And then it was only because my sister was home. Thank God for her.

5. Things Went Out of Control

u/rfunitshifter: My twin brother and I were leashed by my mom when we were young because we liked to run off in stores and such.

When we were three, we went to the zoo with our family. As usual, my mother leashed us so we wouldn't run around the zoo. Little did she know that she would soon regret her decision.

While walking in the zoo with our mother, we decided it would be fun to tie her up with our leashes. We ran in circles around her until she couldn't move.

My dad had to undo our leashes and take care of it while my mom practically had steam coming out of her ears. She was screaming in the middle of the zoo, tied up with our leashes.

6. I Forgot My Favorite Toy Inside!

u/pickleeater: I was working at a children's library when, one day, there was a small fire. We immediately asked everyone to leave the library and saw this 5-year-old girl's father run outside without her. She was hysterical.

We immediately held the girl's hand and took her outside. When we handed her to her father, she told him she had left her favorite stuffed animal inside.

He grabbed her hand, and they ran back into the building. We kept screaming that it wasn't just a drill, it was a real freaking fire.

7. The Thief

u/kozmicblues: My mom has a klepto cousin who trained her kids from a young age to steal. She uses them as decoys sometimes and other times, she lets them take the fall for what she does. She also fosters kids just to steal their money and have them clean her house.

My family has reported her a billion times, but nothing seems to come of it. The funniest part is that she's been incarcerated several times but is still allowed to have guardianship of foster kids. What a shame!

8. The Stingy Child

u/nadjenn: So yesterday, I was on some urgent business and went to grab some cash from my wallet, only to find it empty, even to the pennies. But thanks to technology's power, I paid with a QR code, so it's all good.

Long story short, I asked my mom if she had taken some money off my wallet, and she said yes with no remorse. Then I nicely asked her to return it, but she said she had spent it already and not to make it a big deal since it was "only" 100 bucks.

I told her I needed it for my transportation fees (I fear telling her that I'm short on money for reasons that will shortly be clear), and she yelled at me for being wasteful and that I should save my money.

I once again asked her to return the money, and she said, "Later, I'll do it later," but when I had to transfer some money to her, she wanted me to pay up ASAP.

She returned the money, but since then, she has been calling me "a stingy child" who's "ungrateful to her mother who raised her" and that the fact that I asked for the money back (mind you, that MY MONEY that she STOLE from MY WALLET) makes me a sinful child with no faith in God.

9. The Inheritance Money

u/According-Fuel-2427: My mother and I have a rocky relationship. For background information, she tends to be emotionally manipulative and uses guilt-trip to her advantage whenever we argue.

When my Nana passed away, he left £8,000, split between his five grandchildren, including me. I was supposed to get £1,600, but I was informed I was given £1,000.

To make things short and easy, I confronted her about where the money was being kept, and it led to a massive argument as she refused to tell me. After two weeks, she confessed to spending £600 of my inheritance on "house bills."

I put quotes because my mom also has a strong tendency to lie, and it has gotten to the point where I can't trust anything that comes out of her mouth.

My dad was livid, and she eventually fessed up to spending all of the £1600, and that was when I found out the actual amount of money I was supposed to receive.

10. The Resentful Mother

u/bitchperfectx: I love my 2.5-year-old. I really do. However, I just can't help but feel a bit resentful every time there's a tantrum, wilful disobedience, smacking, kicking, punching. This isn't what I signed up for.

I feel guilty even for thinking that and for yelling every time I'm hit or punched. I'm at my wit's end, and I can't deal with the emotional damage that I experience.

I'm trying so hard to be a good mum, but it's so hard to deal with sometimes. I work full time, and my hubby works full time. Yet I'm the one who has to deal with the fallout.

When they get out of bed at 2 a.m. to come to our bed, I'm kept awake and then have to buy them back to bed an hour later.

When there's a meltdown over something or other, I have to deal with that and console. I'm so done. I'm so tired of life at the moment. It's full-on.

11. A Sudden Lifestyle Change

u/inheritenceloss: My grandparents died three years ago, and my parents were left nothing in the will. The will specifically said they were to get land and nothing more.

As for me and my sister, we were set up to help avoid being taxed. I am unsure about the method used, but a trust was set up with annuities and interest payments.

The problem is my parents tricked us into setting up joint bank accounts with my mom as the second name on the account. We did not realize they would gain access to this money.

We knew something was not right when my parents paid for their house in one go and turned over seven cars in a year. They started living very lavishly while trying to lie to us about how impoverished they were.

We wondered where they got so much money to afford a lavish lifestyle when they claimed they didn't have much money. It turned out they were using our money when my grandparents' will stated they wouldn't get a single buck!

12. My Father's Bad Moves

u/[deleted]: I realized my parents were terrible people when they decided to divorce. My mom got bought out of a rental property they owned together (which was supposed to be sold when my brother and I got to college to pay for our schooling).

Instead, she got a house and a new car with the $100k+ she got bought out with, only to lose both within a year.

On the other hand, my dad was so caught up in trying to get my mom into trouble. He would come to me (the computer genius of the house, somehow, even though I was only 13) and ask me to teach him how to hack into my mom's e-mail account so he could use it as leverage in the divorce.

Then, he kept offering me a HUGE weekly allowance to testify against my mom in court so he could get full custody.

Needless to say, for anyone who's ever had their parents divorce, especially at such a critical age, it should always be the #1 rule of thumb to not ever get the kids that involved. Especially when it concerns trying to pin them against the other parent.

13. An Eye-Opening Visit to the Bank

u/SpunkyRat666: I will start with the fact that my dad and I have never had a good relationship and probably never will, but I never thought he'd do something like this.

So, in February of 2022, I discovered I was pregnant (I was 16). My dad expectedly took this horribly and didn't talk to me for eight months.

Fast forward to around October, my mom and I go to the bank to cash a check through my bank account.

My dad was adamant that I would cash this check through his account, which I didn't understand until I found out my account was closed in FEBRUARY when we told my dad I was pregnant.

I had over $6,000 in that account, including birthday and Christmas money and payments that I worked for. ALL OF IT was gone.

He had some excuse that said, "The bank was charging too much per month in that account." Fast forward to now, where my boyfriend, my baby, and I are stable and happy.

I catch wind that my dad is planning on taking my boyfriend to court, so he "gives me more money for the baby," even though I am doing just fine with the money he gives me. After stealing my money, he has the nerve to demand more from my boyfriend. He's so greedy.

14. My Mom Abandoned Us

u/Same-Blackberry7135: When I was 18, I learned that my mother was in touch with someone online who lived in another state. One day, she went to meet him, and I was happy because I had the whole house to myself for a week.

But the one week turned into two, three, and eventually a month. Everyone kept asking when she would return, but she never gave a definitive answer.

After about two months, I got a call from her saying she was staying over there and that I was now in charge of the house, which meant I had to pay all the bills. I refused, but she insisted I pay them since she no longer lived there.

After that, she hung up on me and wouldn't answer my calls or text. I packed up and went to my dad's house in case she tried something.

It has been five years since then, and I recently got a message from my mom asking if she and her family can come to stay with me.

Apparently, she has no support system over there and needs help. She's a stay-at-home mom, and her husband got fired. They are having trouble making ends meet and want to stay with someone until they get back on their feet.

I rejected her, saying I had no room and wanted nothing to do with her. That didn't go over well, and now she's blasting the family on social media, saying we are abandoning her in her time of need. It's ridiculous that she doesn't see the irony in her words.

15. My Worst Fear

u/[deleted]: My child's daycare is one light down from my office. I don't always do drop-off in the morning. On several occasions, I have automatically driven into work and quickly realized that I was in the wrong place, turned around, and went to the daycare.

Today, I got into a parking spot and unbuckled my seat belt. I looked over, saw the diaper bag, and went, "Oh, no! This is how you leave a baby in a car all day." From now on, I will put all my bags in the back seat, forcing me to look there.

16. Too Busy to Come

u/fluffyredcat: I work at a daycare, so I see a lot of this. One day, the daycare is closed at 6, and a child's parents come in at 6:05 and let their kid run around the daycare.

They are opening the bean bag chairs and pulling things from the shelf for half an hour while my boss is obviously closing up and telling the kids to stop. The dad goes, "Let her do what she wants."

A one-year-old kid has a fever of 103 and has to go home. My boss calls the mom and tells her to pick up her kid.

The mom says she's busy and she can't. She doesn't call the father because they're going through a really ugly divorce.

Then the kid has a seizure, so my boss calls his father after that, and he comes and gets the kid right away.

He informs us that the kid has a history of seizures, and so does his mother. What. She knew, didn't tell us, and didn't even try to pick up her kid.

17. What Was My Baby’s Name?

u/johannadipanda: I forgot my baby's name today. I didn't know that could happen. I was like, "Jake? Jasper? Jo... Nathan? Jerry? Uuhhhh...."

I need to write his name with a permanent marker on my hand so it doesn't happen in public. I will gift myself some extra sleep because these three first weeks are tough even with a good sleeper.

18. The Baby Shower

u/[deleted]: My mom is obsessed with my sister, who has never worked and has no car. My parents fully fund her life, although she is married and 27 years old.

I (30F) own two small businesses with my husband, and we work hard and long hours. My husband and I had a miscarriage last year and were overjoyed to find out we were pregnant again this fall.

My parents were so excited and were way more loving and attentive than they'd ever been. That is until my sister announced she was also pregnant with twins.

I have been supportive of my sister but was secretly devastated we'd be pregnant at the same time because I knew my parents would not care about my pregnancy and would compare my child to my sister's kids for his entire life.

My friends and husband thought I was overreacting until it was time for my baby shower. We live out of state, but my mom promised a virtual one, and we picked a date of April 11.

April 11 came, and nothing. And then, my mom texted me a beautiful, elaborate invitation to my sister's baby shower in a few weeks.

That's it. She never called me back or anything. I realized that she completely forgot about it altogether.

19. Return My Money!

u/river_at_heart: I have a complicated relationship with my parents. As I've gotten older, it's gotten worse. Recently, I received a sum of money from my deceased grandpa (about 125k, all for college).

When I was told I had inherited it, I was excited that I would be able to afford my dream school. When I tried to get the money transferred to my college savings, I encountered a problem: My mother.

I went to ask her to transfer the money into my college savings account, but she refused, claiming that it was rightfully hers because of all that she had done for me.

To say I was mad was an understatement. All through my life, she would go into my room and steal whatever cash I had and even destroy the safe my grandfather had bought me.

When I was 13, I began recording the money I had earned. When I added it, including the money I received from my grandfather, the total was around 250k.

Three days ago, I went to her with my notebook and records of all transactions she made through my account. I went through everything with her.

At first, she was confused, but when I said the magical grand total, she started yelling that all of that was hers since she had spent more than that on my medical bills.

Two days ago, I sent her an email, laying out that I wanted everything that she had stolen from me, or I would be going the legal route, suing her for more than what she had stolen from me, which included all of my therapy.

20. My Baby Disappeared in the Middle of the Night

u/Tw5676: I woke up panicking in the middle of the night and rushed to the nursery to check on my baby daughter. THE CRIB WAS EMPTY.

I ran to my phone to call the police, but I saw a text message with a photo of my daughter on the screen. I was furious and called the number back. I was immediately enraged. I screamed so hard I almost vomited.

The picture was sent by my mother-in-law with the caption, "Sleepover at Gamgam's." She entered our house with her spare key and secretly took my child to her place for the night.

I called her and said I was coming to get my baby. I also told her this was the last time she was seeing her grandchild. I won't tolerate her around my baby anymore.

21. My Mother Left Us

u/[deleted]: My mom left me and my poor farmer dad for a wealthy man. I begged her not to do it, but she just laughed in my face and left. I never saw her again. My dad died three days later.

Ten years after that, I became the big boss of an IT company. A dirty, skinny woman comes in for an interview, and I recognize her as my mom. MY REVENGE WAS BRUTAL.

I looked her directly in the eyes and calmly said, "You don't qualify for this job, just like you didn't qualify to be a mother." The room fell silent as she realized the gravity of her past decisions. She left the building, defeated and ashamed, a shadow of the woman she once was.

22. It's a Family Thing

u/[deleted]: My mom used my college fund to pay for her affair with another woman. My dad emotionally broke down and would come to me to backbite about my mom to make sure I didn't go with her.

Two years later, I realized my mom was trying to escape my dad's overbearing power fight. He always had to be right. He always knew better.

If we fought, it was because I was a bad son, not because I was already in tears as a 19-year-old, and he was still yelling the same stuff he was three hours ago.

It really disturbed me. On one hand, I have a liar and a cheat, and on the other, an emotionally manipulative control freak.

Becoming a parent comes with a lot of responsibilities, but not everyone is ready for it. These parenting stories show how people often mess up as parents and end up doing embarrassing things.