#FailFriday - March 2014

#FailFriday is back!!

#FailFriday is for all your tales of parenting woes. Grab the badge, link up your story below, and share with us on Twitter.  What have you done wrong recently? Don't worry, we're not here to judge. Or to laugh. Mostly.

Me? I feel like a bit of a failure this week. I've had twins with chicken pox, and it's been a nasty bout. Nastier than it was with my older two children. My twins spent most of one day crying over the state of each other. To them, looking at each other was like looking in a mirror and upsetting themselves. They've been sore and itchy, and hot and cold, and very uncomfortable. 

There's not been a lot I could do really. They don't like the calamine cream, and are sick of lukewarm baths. I'm exhausted. We got through the week but not without dubious amounts of Calpol, a lot of tears and some falling out. And not just with the children. 

Anyway, if you want some reassurance that you're doing alright really, come and link up and we'll all come and give you our sympathies. 

The badge is on the right >>>>

#FailFriday - October 2012

It's that time again where we congregate at the alter of parenting and confess our sins. You know you're not completely innocent or you wouldn't be here, would you?

Have you added your confession to our linky yet? (It's at the bottom of the post just in case you were maybe thinking about possibly linking up).

Don't forget to tweet us with #FailFriday and leave a comment so we know you're around. All good fail stories will be included in next month's round-up, so don't delay. The badge code is to the right >>>>>

So, who were our failures last month?

First off the blocks was Actually Mummy, who's fondness for a certain, mummy-friendly beverage landed her in Embarrassment Town. Oops.

Then there was In A Different Voice who put forward not one, not two, but a fail for every day of the week. That's my girl!

So go and visit and offer some words of comfort to these battle-weary parents. See you next month.

#FailFriday - September 2012

Welcome to another day worshipping the gods of failure. 

Last month, there were six troopers reporting a lost battle. 

Actually Mummy linked up a post with a whole host of parenting failures, so head over there and get your fill.  

3 Children and It is struggling with stemming sibling squabbles. And there's a tongue twister if ever there was one.

Autism as a Whole told us about her battle with herself. How she feels she is failing her son by refusing to take his condition more seriously. Being told in black and white what you're trying to avoid thinking about is not good for the soul. But is she a failure? She thinks so. Go and give her some support. 

Travel with Tots has ruined Sophie the Giraffe and needs your advice. Oops. 

Mum of Three World told us about her fears for her son's birthday. She's only got herself to blame for her lack of disorganisation, but it was all right in the end, so close but no cigar for you this month. 

Last but not least, Twinkle Mummy went out and managed to lose both her children. She resorted to tactics that I am familiar with, so that's ok with me. But both children? And one of them nearly started a flood. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! This month's BIG FAT FAIL award goes to Twinkle Mummy. 

To link up your own fail story and be part of next month's round-up, grab the badge from the right, link up below and tweet us with #FailFriday. We'll share and come and say hi.

T'il next time.

Adios comrades.

#FailFriday - August 2012

Wow, fails aplenty linked up last month, which is great. I think. Most importantly it means I'm not the only loser. 

So here's this month's round-up:

First of all, there is me, The Sarge, with another classic tale of taking my eye off the ball. Never, ever take your eyes off the ball. Especially when kitchen appliances are involved. Read my pitiful offering here. Oops.

Regular trooper, Katriina, ponders whether bringing her children up in a multi-national way is doing them any favours. I say yes, but then (as is shown above), what do I know? Read Katriina's story 'My little mongrel'

Actually Mummy told us all about her mummy, who has been having a moment or two. It's very bad manners to link someone else in to fail Friday, but we'll forgive her - she is only eight. Read her tale of Mummy reaching the end of her tether.

You're Not From Round Here made a complete tit of herself in front of her unwitting neighbours and children, all because of a tiny eight-legged enemy. Fail, fail, fail!!! Read her story here.

But taking the Big, Fat Fail award after submitting not one, not two, but THREE fail stories, it's Mum of Three World. Read all about a swimming trip disaster blamed on baby brain, not buying her child shoes, and a disastrous day full of school reports and crashing the car in Tesco's car park. Not clever, not pretty and nothing to be proud of.

Please visit all our failures and give them your sympathy.

Now to this week's proceedings. If you identify with the troopers above, then help is available. Grab the Big, Fat Fail badge (from the sidebar on the right), and link your post below. Tweet us on @parentfrontline with #FailFriday. We'll all come over, point and laugh, and offer our sympathy.

#FailFriday 29th June 2012

Welcome to another Fail Friday.

Confession time: For most of today I have been calling the twins by the wrong names. Not completely wrong names, obviously - but swapping them over. My twins are 16 months old so are not in the habit of correcting me, although my four-year-old did. Several times. I ignored her. Told her she was the mistaken one. She wasn't. In my defence, my supposed non-identical girls are very, very similar. They go through phases of looking alike, and then growing apart again. Today was a looking alike day. Ah well, no harm done. Fingers crossed. I still feel like a failure though. But it happens to the best of us. And to me.

To Fail Friday. Link up your fail stories below, and leave us a comment. Tweet us if you want with the URL of your post. 

#FailFriday - May 2012

Sorry! Been really busy. Doing successful parenting stuff obviously. I'm not a failure.

However, if you've been feeling the pressure recently and achievement has given way to a disaster or two, then this is the place to be. 

Link up your fail posts below, tweet us with #FailFriday, and let us all share in your self-pitying, wallowing mess of a life. The funnier the better, thank you! And something we can take the piss out of you for would be ideal. There's a badge over on the right if you want to increase your exposure as an inadequate human being. 

So, link up below and we'll all come and show you some support / sympathy / humiliation*

Thank you good people!!

*depends how we feel at the time. It's pot luck, I'm afraid.

Ignore this technical bit - PY3WCU7DS2BM

#FailFriday - 16th March 2012

EYES FRONT!!

Welcome back to Fail Friday. Did you miss us? Sorry we've not been around for a few weeks but we've been really busy - out on manoeuvres and all that. Honest, captain.

Fail Friday is now becoming a bigger, monthly weekly which will be kicked off on a Friday in the middle of the month. You can link up a new or old post on the topic of parenting fails. Tweet us @parentfrontline with the link to your blog post and we'll tweet it out to our army of parent followers. They might all come and just point at you and say 'Ha-ha!' like Nelson off The Simpsons, but whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger. Hopefully.


Anyway, to start things off again I would like to impart to you my latest parenting faux-pas.


Picture the scene: a modest semi in sleepy suburbia. Parents lovingly tidying the house while the older two children are at their perfect, little village school. The cherubic twins snoozing blissfully in the pram. The parents smile at each other as they find little pieces of artwork their young children have created just for them. Perfect little masterpieces. LOTS of masterpieces. 

Fast forward a few hours when the young, curly haired, bushy-eyed girls return from school and the younger one spots her masterpieces in the recycling box next to the back door.

Fail: Never, ever forget to actually bin the artwork you seem to be drowning in. And do it properly.

Result: Floods, and floods of tears that you may actually drown in.

Ooops. That'll be a big fat fail badge for me then. If you want one too, the code is over to the right.

It would be lovely to see all you other parenting failures linking up. Even if it's just to make crap ones like me feel a bit better.

Cheerios. 

5 common parenting fails, and why we shouldn't worry about them.

For a change from Fail Friday, today we are talking about 5 common parenting fails, and discussing whether they really matter. For us parents, bringing up our children can be tough going. We have good times, of course we do, but we have bad times too. At Parenting on the Front Line, we accept that failure is an option, indeed it is inevitable from time-to-time. The important thing is that we accept defeat, dust ourselves down and move on. Please stay with us as we tell you 5 parenting fails that determined soldiers have shared with us.

1) Occasionally, we leave incompetents in charge of our children. For some of us, the results of this can be disastrous, but for most of us this is a necessary evil. We leave our children with over-indulgent grandparents, or with the less-experienced other half, or with unfamiliar nursery assistants. We feel terrible guilt, but what's the worst that can happen? Don't feel bad about it - little Timmy needs his independence, and your other half needs to learn to do stuff for them too. There's only one way for them to learn, and that's for you to suspend your anxiety for a few hours, and get you some 'me' time.

• For a fantastic tale of how incompetents can ruin our day, visit Musings of a Stressy Mummy.

2) We throw all our good intentions out of the window. You know how before you became a parent, you had a well-drawn up battle plan? How many of you changed that battle-plan mid-war? I know I did. My child would sleep in her own bed straight away and sleep all night. Yeah, right! My child would eat all her vegetables without complaining? Hahahahahaha! My child would not be watching television and only play with educational toys? Give me a break. Changing your plan does not mean you have failed. A good soldier takes stock of the changing scenario and can alter their tactics. I hope so anyway, because that's what I've done!

• If all else fails, blame someone else, just like Maid in Yorkshire.

3) Even though we are perfectly intelligent, educated, professional people as well as parents, we (occasionally) show ourselves up. Our failures are witnessed by other grown-ups. From wearing highly visible milky-vomit badges of honour on our work jacket, to getting stuck in tunnels in the soft-play centre, we've all done something that's made us mentally take the walk of shame.

• Read the story of how Ghostwritermummy looked a bit foolish.

4) We take our eyes off the ball. It may only be for a minute or two, but the consequences can be damaging. This is our most popular parenting fail, and has resulted in slug-eating babies, almost flooded bathrooms, and cross-dressing toddlers.

• For a fail that we have all done, even with our eyes closed, visit Cornish Blonde. Oops.

5) Our biggest fail is that we think that our occasional fails mean that we are failures. We're not. Even the very best juggler drops a ball eventually. We have all felt desperate at times. The trick is to take some time out, reflect and come back stronger.

• Read all about Headspace Blog's battle with herself.

I hope you have enjoyed this Friday's round up. Fail Friday is taking a break for a couple of weeks, but we will be back in March, so get your fail posts racked up.

Sergeant J

#FailFriday - 3rd February 2012

Fall in line for Fail Friday.

For the benefit of all you deserters, Friday is the day we show our battle scars, and report back with our stories of defeat. So, if you've dropped the baby on it's head, turned your back on a room full of crayon-laden toddlers, or made a complete arse out of yourself in front of your teens, then we need to know about it.


Our enemies are numerous - teachers, foodstuffs, bloody craft thingy-me-bobs, and the children too. Some days it seems they all conspire to make us as miserable as possible. Come and sprag them in to us.

Link up your blog post below, tweet us @ParentFrontLine with the link to your post, and leave us a comment to let us know you've linked up. Don't forget to award yourself the big fat fail badge (on the right) if you know how, failure!

Today, we are on maneouveres, but will be armed with our essential tools (smartphones naturally), so get linking up and come and say hello!

Last week, we had one report of defeat. When you can't speak the lingo, the potential for failure is mahoosive. It certainly was for this unlucky trooper. Read it and thank someone, somewhere that it wasn't you.

Laters men!

Sergeant J

#FailFriday - 20th January 2012

Last week was Friday the 13th. We were hoping that failure was no more an option than any other Friday, but noooooooooooooooo! We had more bloggers link up than ever before. Which is good. But not good.

First of all we had Here Come the Girls who had forgotten to rebook the swimming lessons, resulting in stress all round. Fail!

Oh Mammy! made a small mistake. Not a very big one really, but the effects even a small mistake can have when you have an autistic child are magnified. Read this and never take this parenting lark for granted again. I know I won't. A very reluctant - fail!!!

Along came Ghostwritermummy who made a complete arse out of herself in front of some perfectly nice, professional people. Fail! 


I've heard of talking crap, but never talking wee. Headspace Blog has and shows us the depths we plunge to in the name of parenting. Fail, fail, fail!


Lastly we had Cornish Blonde who did something all us parents have done at one time or another. Please go along and give her some support. So a lot of sympathy coming your way, however it is still a big, fat fail!!! Congratulations, you are this week's parade leader. I bet you are very pleased.


Anyway, the linky is open once again for all you parenting losers. Link up below, leave us a comment, and tweet us @ParentFrontLine.


Happy failing, losers!

#FailFriday - 13th January 2012

Woooooohhooooooohh! Spooky times. Today is Friday the 13th, so we are preparing ourselves for a veritable hoard of your fail stories. Whether you have broken your mirror, condemning yourself to seven years bad luck, or just done the usual 'forgot about school dress-up day' (I know I have), then come along and link up your tales of woe below, loser. 

Last week, we only had two stories linked up, which is good isn't it? We are glad you all got through the previous two weeks with NO FAILS AT ALL? Don't make me laugh. You're not Mary Poppins for goodness' sake.


Anyway, we had Here Come the Girls getting all concerned about too many lost battles over getting fruit in to her little troopers. But she managed it in the end, so she can quit her moaning! 


This week's best all-too-familiar parenting fail comes courtesy of Maid in Yorkshire. You know how it is, all good intentions about how our childrens' little minds are not going to be addled by the nasty of television. Well, on this count, she has fail, fail, failed! But the bloody cheek of it - she only goes and blames someone else. Face it woman, you are a big, fat fail! 


So to be included in next week's round-up, just enter your blog post in the linky below. Leave us a comment or two if you can, grab the Big-Fat-Fail badge to display proudly on your blog and tweet us @ParentFrontLine with #FailFriday. 

Sergeant J

#FailFriday - 6th January 2012

Welcome to the first #FailFriday of 2012. We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. We did, and are now raring to go for our first full year on the blog. We have had a brilliant start with some new blogs linking up for both the Fail Fridays and the Medal Mondays. Thank you to you all, and we hope to see you again soon.

The last Fail Friday was back in mid-December, and we had three stories shared.........

The first was provided by Headspace Blog who told us her tale of parenting frustrations and anger. I like this post because it could so easily have been written by myself. Much sympathies.

My own story involved a fail of the tooth fairy, although why I'm taking the blame on this one I've no idea. If the tooth fairy can't do her job properly, well then she should just shove off.

The runaway winner of the Big Fat Fail award this week goes to Here Come the Girls who couldn't even make it to the Tots100 Christmas Party and back without a whole catalogue of fails. Poor indeed, but well done you! 

So come on, visit the above bloggers and make yourself feel better, and then link your own fail up below. We will all come visit, have a good laugh show some support, and leave you a comment. If you want a badge to accentuate your fail as a human being, then you can grab the Big Fat Fail badge on the right.

Sergeant J

#FailFriday - 16th December 2011

One, two, one, two, one, two!! 

Hello and welcome to Fail Friday. If you want to know more about this linky, please click here. To join in, the linky is at the bottom of this post.

We are in to our third week now, and each week we have had some fantastic stories of shoddy parenting. Last week was no exception. So hang around and prepare to be dazzled by the sheer awesomeness of parenting disaster.

Last week, our very own Sergeant J had to borrow money from her own child in order to provide her troops with sustenance. We heard how Here Come the Girls was late collecting her child from school, something we have all done, or will do from time to time. The children still have a way of making you feel like a failure though. The Real Supermum linked up with her story of her toothy mummy fail, involving swellings, ice and trusty old Google.


This weeks flag-flying failure is Life, Love and Living with Boys, whose child managed to do something undercover, and well.....you'll have to see the pics. Well done, you are indeed a BIG FAT FAIL.

If you deserve the same honour, then link up your parenting fail blog post below, grab the badge from the right hand column, and display it proudly. We will all come over and agree that you did indeed fail, but will try and provide you with all the emotional support a competent and willing soldier deserves.


Also, please do visit those that have linked up and show some love. And leave us a comment below too if you can - we love them!

We will be taking a break next week due to the Christmas holidays, but please come back on the 6th January and share with us all your Christmas and New Year fail stories. Don't forget we have #MedalMonday coming up, where you can share your parenting success stories. Assuming you've got some, you pathetic little lot!!

#FailFriday - 9th December 2011

LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, AND HALT!!

Hello and welcome to our second Fail Friday. If you want to know more about this linky, please click here. To join in, the linky is at the bottom of this post.


We know that some of you are heading over to the Tots100 Christmas party this Friday. We hope you have a fantastic time, and we want to hear all about it. The karaoke and everything. Today's Fail Friday is open until Tuesday, so you have plenty of time to link up your posts. Anyway....

Last week, we met some brave, but unlucky soldiers. They told us their parenting fails in the name of making you, the reader, feel better about your own occasionally sad, little parenting existence. Our aim is to make the rest of you feel normal. We hope we can fulfil this to your satisfaction.  


Last week, we had a story of slugs from our very own Sergeant J. We heard how Here Come the Girls can't help but feel nasty thoughts when bombarded by stupid questions about her twin girls. Life, Love and Living with Boys told us how she managed to get three parenting fails into her day, before it even turned 8am. It was an epic tale of crappy nappies, flooding and activities worthy of the Andrex puppy. 


Putting us all to shame this week was Musings of a Stressy Mummy, who tried to do more than one thing at a time (ambitious!), and who's only, seemingly small failure to answer the phone to Grandad led to a tale of a locksmith, a broken door, and a not insignificant repair bill. FAIL, FAIL, FAIL. Stressy Mummy, you indeed deserve the Big Fat Fail award.

If you deserve the same honour, then link up your parenting fail blog post below, grab the badge from the right hand column, and display it proudly. We will all come over and agree that you did indeed fail, but will try and provide you with all the emotional support a competent and willing soldier deserves.


Also, please do visit those that have linked up and show some love. And leave us a comment below too if you can - we love them!

Don't get too rowdy at the Christmas party. Yes, I'm taking to you, soldier!


Roger, over and out.

#FailFriday - 2nd December 2011

AT EASE, TROOPS!!

Hello and welcome to our very first linky - Fail Friday. If you want to know more about this linky, please click here. To join in, the linky is at the bottom of this post.

To kick things off, I will share with you a pretty crappy parenting fail. My baby, when she was eight months old, tried to eat a slug. Yes, a real one. A live one. I am not proud.

It was a normal Sunday morning. One of the twins decided it would be a good day to get up at stupid o'clock. I would've tried to keep her in her cot and teach her that Sunday mornings are for lying in bed, but I didn't want to wake the other twin prematurely, so I took twin one and we went downstairs. We have had a slug problem for a bit so I did a quick check of the floor before I put her down. I gave her a couple of toys and put my feet up on the sofa and tried not to close my eyes for too long, just in case. I think I succeeded. Mostly.

When I heard the chomping noise, it was all a bit of a blur. The greedy little cherub had found a slug under the sofa and couldn't resist. At that age everything ends up in the mouth, and she had made no exception for this unusual looking visitor. I think the slug now regrets his actions. He did come out again, whole, but he didn't look very well. If I hadn't been so knackered it might not have happened, but hey, these things are sent to make us all stronger. Apart from said slug. For this palaver, I respectfully award myself the Big Fat Fail badge.

If you would like the same honour, then link up your parenting fail blog post below, grab the badge from the right hand column, and display it proudly. We will all come over and agree that you did indeed fail, but will try and provide you with all the emotional support a competent and willing soldier deserves.


Also, please do visit those that have linked up and show some love. And leave us a comment below too if you can - we love them!

Roger, over and out.