TODAY Moms readers share their 'Sh*tty Mom' moments

Sept. 10, 2012, 6:55 PM UTC

By Kavita Varma-White

In their new book"Sh*tty Mom: The Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us," four moms expose some of the dirty little admissions that many mothers make when it comes to dealing with the cringe-worthy moments of parenting. From handing off a baby who has just filled a diaper andavoiding organized sports so you don’t have to carpool to planting kids in front of the TV so you can sleep later in the morning, the ‘Sh*ttyMom’ guide will, at the least, make you feel less guilty about your own parenting transgressions.

As the authors define in the book’s intro:

“Sh*tty Mom is about how to survive babies, and what they grow into: children. Sh*tty Momis about shortcuts and parenting with 40 percent the effort. It’s about doing a half-assed job, but doing it well enough so that no one but you notices.”

We asked TODAY Moms Facebook readers to share their own ‘Sh*tty Mom' moments, which ranged from Stephanie Kramp Johnson’s admission of “passing off cupcakes made from a boxed mix as ‘made from scratch’”, to Precious Singh, who pretends she’s busy anything field trip time comes around.

“I don’t want to hang out with 25 kindergartners or first graders – not my idea of fun,” Singh says.

Some moms act ‘Sh*tty’ when they want their kids to change behaviors.

Writes Leslie Lewis, a mom of six, ages 5 to 19:

One of my sh**ty mom moments: My husband bought some picture frames that came with a pic of a little girl in it. My 5 year old asked,"Who is that?" I said,"That's the girl that's going to take your place because she knows how to pick up her toys." I haven't had any problems getting her to pick up her toys since.

Keri Beutel used her ‘Sh*tty Mom’ pass to get her son to stop picking his nose.

“He was small enough that once he picked it he wanted to hand it to me to dispose of. I didn't have anything to put it on while driving down the road, and surely didn't want him wiping it on my car interior or his clothes, so I simply told him to eat it. It took that one instance for him to choose not to be a nose picker…”

For some moms, unavoidable ‘Sh*tty Mom’ moments occur as because their kids are copying them.

Laurie Shamblin writes:

My daughter (4yrs) yelled out the back window to the car next to us "Move it you idiot!" We were sitting at a stop light. Can't imagine where she heard that from (LOL).”

Liz Capra Whitby admits to using potty humor to make her kids laugh. “Even when I hear other parents tell their kids not to use those words...... then we do it together behind people's backs like our little secret...... poopoo, diapers, booty...... they love it and really, what is the harm?”

‘Sh*tty Mom’ moments also occur when moms deal with toys and other shopping scenarios.

Jodi Zellmer Vetter admits she returns gifts given to her children and uses the money for toiletries, towels, sheets, and gifts from other stores. She says, “Sometimes I even will open the gifts before the kids do and replace what he's bought with something I picked out.”

Amanda Amaro writes that when her kids received “lovely loud-a** toys” as gifts, "they would work for a week. And then “for some strange reason, the batteries would just die!! Little did they know we had taken them out! Ha Ha – good times.”

And sometimes, ‘Sh*tty Moms’ will do anything they can for a little peace and quiet.

Richenda Harriss writes:

“My sh*tty mom moments: I sometimes lock myself in the bathroom with a book and tell my hubby & kids that I'm having tummy issues just to get some "me time". Also, I've taught my 10 yr.old son how to cook simple things so that he can feed my other kid, 8 yr.old daughter, and himself on the evenings I'm too wiped out or too lazy to cook (hubby works nights). Awful, I know...”