Kids don’t know everything. After all, the whole point of growing up is to learn about the world before you’re ready to be part of it. But we shouldn’t underestimate them, either.
One Redditor asked parents (and people who had stories from other parents), ” what lessons have to tried to teach your kids that completely backfired? ” Getting outsmarted by your kid happens a lot more than you’d think, apparently.
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1. “Not a parent, but my in-laws love telling this story about my fiancé.” – thatsunshinegal
“He was resistant to potty training, and they eventually got him to start using the potty by telling him that he had to be out of pull-ups before a family trip to Disney World, because ‘Mickey Mouse only sees big boys and girls.’ And also who wants to log a diaper bag around Disney?”
“Anyway, it went great, they had a great trip… and the day after they got back, he took a [expletive] in the living room.”
“When asked, he said, ‘I don’t gotta use the potty cause I already saw Mickey Mouse.’ They very firmly told him that if he was old enough to use logic, he was far too old for diapers, and that was the end of that.”
I guess making it sound like he only has to use a toilet around Mickey Mouse wasn’t the smartest idea in hindsight…
2. “Not a parent but when I was around 12, my father suspected that I stayed up late playing videogames, even though I didn’t.” – Monfo
“One night he went into my room and told me that I shouldn’t play my Game Boy Advance past bedtime, because I needed to rest. That’s when I realized I could play my Game Boy Advance past bedtime, and I’ve suffered from insomnia since then.”
I guess as a parent, you have to be careful not to accidentally give your kids ideas on how to break your own rules. Especially when those rules can keep you from developing insomnia.
3. “When my daughter was 10, she wanted to try out for a community theater version of ‘Beauty and the Beast.'” – chipdipper99
“She got nervous though, and almost backed out, because she was so sure she wasn’t going to make it.”
Yeah, I get that. Especially at that age, nerves can really get the best of you.
“My husband, who did some acting in high school, stepped in and said that he would also audition, even though he knew he was never going to make it.”
“He wanted to demonstrate to her that it’s okay to audition for something that you don’t think you’re going to make.”
“She ended up not only just making it, but she got the part of Chip. My husband got the part of Maurice, Belle’s father. He didn’t even want to be in a goddamn play.”
Yeah… it can’t be good for your self esteem if your parent who didn’t want to be in the play, ended up getting a bigger role than you.
4. “When I was about 2 years old my family was at a game in Angel’s stadium. My mother went to the restroom and left me and my siblings with my dad.” – ghode
“While he was busy watching I wandered off. When they eventually found me I was halfway around the stadium.”
I guess it’s hard to keep track of multiple kids while at a game, but that might be a lesson that you can’t really pay as much attention to the action as you might want to while taking care of kids.
“A crowd had gathered to watch as a police officer held me out at arms length while I screamed…”
“…’call the police, this man is not my daddy’ over and over again. My parents had taught me stranger danger, but forgot to teach me what police look like.”
Okay, that’s pretty hilarious. At least the kid had the right spirit.
5. “Taught my now 16 year old to always compliment people who insulted you.” – berthejew
“We were in a Burlington Coat Factory in Michigan when my mother was shopping for a bathing suit to take to Florida. There were few to choose from, so she was complaining. My kid was 4.”
“A woman trying on pants and said something rude to my mom who was asking my opinion and my daughter caught on that my mother was agitated.”
“She squeezed out behind me and told the woman, ‘Your teeth are such a pretty yellow!'”
That backfired, but in the best way ever. You can’t really expect to insult a stranger in public for no reason, and not get insulted back. Even if the insult was unintentional.
6. “Playing carnival/fair games is a waste of money. My son wanted to spend his $20 to win a Pikachu stuffed animal from his allowance that he saved up.” – adonisgq1
“We told him he would be wasting his money and he would not win. He spent $15.00 and won the biggest prize.”
In all fairness, there was a good chance the kid would’ve spent all his money and lost. But never say never, I guess.
7. “As good people, we taught our kids that littering isn’t nice. As humans, we also let some curse words fly in front of them.” – pedantic_dullard
“We were at our city’s 4th of July celebration when the oldest was 4. We were walking around and someone tossed their trash on the ground. Captain Litterbug flew into action, picked up the trash and yelled, ‘Hey asshole, you dropped this,’ while tapping them on the butt.”
Sure, the delivery was a little rude, but he had the right idea. And let’s face it, there are definitely worse things a kid can say.
8. “I tried the whole ‘have your kids quote chores for pay and bid against one another.'” – BobSacramanto
“It’s supposed to teach them about working for their money and not expecting handouts like an allowance. It turned into every time I asked them to do something I got, ‘how much will you pay me?'”
I think giving allowances for chores is a good idea. But it can totally backfire when your kids start to expect money for every little thing.
9. “One of my 5 year old twins was still having occasional accidents because she would get so caught up in playing/doing something else that she just wouldn’t go and would pee her pants.” – KyleRichXV
“To combat this we would give her a special prize of some variety when she wouldn’t have an accident.”
“This, in turn, caused her twin sister to START having accidents so she could get prizes for not having accidents (even though she was fine on this front beforehand).”
“We had to rethink our methods.”
Oh man. Those kids were too smart for their own good.
10. “Read a book that suggested you ask your kid what an appropriate punishment for misbehaving would be and then carry it out.” – Mungobrick
“6 yo son pinched his brother or something, so we asked what an appropriate punishment would be. He said, ‘pluck out my eyeballs and throw me over a cliff?’ We didn’t follow through. And stopped reading parenting books.”
Well, I’m glad they didn’t follow through. I swear, though, that book was written by people who didn’t have kids or something.
11. “Told my children repeatedly that if I found any more mess/junk on their bedroom floor, I would be donating it to the thrift store. I told them they had 15 minutes to clean it up off the floor.” – mollymuppet78
“Came back to find everything picked up, except they went into the kitchen cupboards and had put every food they didn’t like in a nice neat pile right in the middle of the floor.”
I hate to say it, but it sounds like this parent got played. I guess when you’re trying to teach your kids a lesson, you have to be pretty specific.
12. “My nephew mispronounced the name of a certain kitchen appliance, so my sister broke it into syllables very distinctly for him, saying, ‘it’s mi-cro-wave.'” – anoem
“My nephew nodded very seriously and replied, ‘It’s your crow wave!'”
I feel like that kid wasn’t trying to be smart in that moment, but I still bet he’s going places in life.
“13. Taught my four year old that you’re not allowed to say that a food is gross if you haven’t tried it.” – fruitjerky
“Apparently I’m not allowed to criticize her booger eating until I try it.”
I mean, she’s not wrong, as disgusting as that is. Hopefully one day she’ll figure out that she probably shouldn’t do that.
14. “One day at 7-11, my 4 year old daughter and I witnessed a guy scratching off a lotto ticket in his car.” – metric79
“Disheartening from not winning, he threw the lottery ticket out of his window, onto the ground. There were quite a few people around and in their cars as well. I wanted to show I was a good dad and to teach my daughter a lesson about littering.”
“I walked over to the lottery ticket and picked it up while shame-glaring at the dude in his car.”
“My daughter asked me why I did that. I said, extra loud so he could hear, ‘because littering is bad and we have to protect the planet.'”
“I walked over to the trash can to throw away the ticket and when I turned around she had a handful of used cigarette butts. I was horrified and evidently it was showing on my face.”
“A lady in her car witnessed the whole thing and was laughing so hard. She rolled down her window and yelled, ‘that backfired!’ I had to take all those cigarette butts from my daughter and throw them away.”
Right idea, maybe the wrong way of going about it. Hopefully OP had some hand sanitizer around.
