How to Manage Embarrassing Mom Moments

Every Mother Faces Mom Moments

Over the span of her life every mother will deal with her fair share of embarrassing mom moments. I came to this realization after about the tenth time my son screamed in terror when a kind elderly admirer would stop to look at him. We each have our embarrassing mom moments and (for the most part) we all live through them.

Caught Off Guard

No matter where you are when the embarrassing mom moment happens, you’re almost always caught off guard. Just recently I was mortified by my children at daycare when I was picking them up. As I chatted with another mom, my oldest son began lifting my daughter off the ground (like he was doing the Heimlich maneuver) resulting in her screaming over and over in front of several other parents. I ran to break up the hoopla and “misplaced” my other son who had wandered into the office.

My Sister-in-law Wins

Perhaps the award for most embarrassing mom moment of anyone I know goes to my sister-in-law Lisa. Several years ago she took her three kids (aged 5, 3 and 6 months) into a clothing store. She was carrying the baby in a carrier on her chest and holding the hands of the big ones. Within a few minutes, she felt something squishy on her flip flops and looked down to learn that the baby had pooped out of his diaper. It was all over the baby, her legs, her feet and of course there was a trail of it behind her.

As soon as the other kids realized what was going on her 3-year-old daughter began crying uncontrollably and her 5-year-old son (with a very sensitive gag reflex) began dry heaving. She hurried all three kids to the bathroom, cleaned herself and the baby up just to walk out and find some very irritated store employees cleaning up the mess. But she kept her cool and handled the situation as best she could. Embarrassing? You bet! She actually won a contest telling this story on the radio.

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