We Asked Our Parents For Their Most Honest OMG Moments From When We Were Kids

Being a parent isn’t easy, especially with the pressure to always be perfect. Sometimes the imperfect moments bring us closer together! In honor of National Honesty Day (April 30) and the #RefreshinglyHonest Project, we asked our parents to get #RefreshinglyHonest with moments from our childhood.

1. The Wrong Drops

"I once went to the ER at night because I was screaming in pain from my ear. I had an inner ear infection, but apparently also pink eye. The doctors said we had to wait for the morning to get the pink eye and ear medication, but they gave us ear-numbing drops in the meantime. We get home at 5 a.m., and my mom said, 'We have to do the eye drops,' and I was like, 'Cool.' One drop in, and I was in so much pain. We gave it a minute until it dawned on me: They didn't give us eye drops, they gave us ear-numbing drops. We had to go back to the ER to make sure I wouldn't go blind."

—Jen S.

2. The Quick Move

Courtesy of Christina DiRusso

"One time, while my sister was waiting for her violin lesson to start, my mom went to the bathroom. When she came back, my sister had a whole Life Savers candy stuck up her nose (impressive TBH). We had to go to the ER to get it removed...."

—Christina D.

3. The Pop

"One day, when I was about 3, my mom and nana took me shopping. We were in the checkout line where I started jumping up and down in my stroller. My mom grabbed my arm as I went down, and out popped my arm from my shoulder socket. She's a nurse, so she kept my arm raised because she immediately knew what happened. She whispered to my nana, 'Ashley's arm is not in its socket. We need to go to the hospital right now,' and my nana just said, 'But I'm next in line...'

"It's never been made clear if my nana finished her purchase, but I was taken to the hospital, and after a while they were able to pop it back in place. Today, I honestly couldn't tell you which arm it was."

—Ashley C.

4. The Time There Was Too Much of a Good Thing

Courtesy of Priya Minhas

"One time, my parents were feeding me yogurt, and it became clear that I really loved it. I kept eating it, so they kept giving me more…and then I projectile-vomited everywhere."

—Priya M.

5. The Snowy Sled

"When I was 3, my mom took me sledding on Christmas Eve. We didn't have a sled, though, so she decided we could sled on a cardboard box.

"Our first time down, she pushed me a little to the left — and just like that, I got my first taste of what going headfirst into a wooden post felt like. I rocked a stylish black eye that Christmas. My mom felt terrible."

—Jamie R.

6. The Dangerous Game

Courtesy of Mary Fusoni

“One time, my dad let our downstairs neighbor, John, hang out and play a little game with me when I was about a year old. He was cradling me in his arms and swooping me up and down, and I was loving it...until he dropped me on my head on the tile floor. My dad was there, and he felt terrible. But after some crying, I was OK — not even any cuts or bruises."

—Andrea P.

7. The Silent Sufferer

"My mom once locked me in the basement by accident. I was toddling along behind her while she did stuff around the house, and I followed her into the basement where she was getting something to bring upstairs. I must have been pretty quiet because she went up the stairs and locked the door behind her, leaving me all alone.

"I sat down there quietly for a while to see how long it would take her to notice, and about 20 minutes later, she rushed downstairs and found me. I made her feel pretty bad about it for a while."

—Jana P.

8. The Backseat Driver

Courtesy of Claire Menegus

"I'm a twin, and one day when I was about 5 years old, my twin brother was sick and stayed home from school. I hopped in the backseat of the car solo for my mom to drive me to school, and when we arrived I realized…we weren't at school, we were at her work. I guess she thought of us as a pair because with just me in the car she completely forgot to drive me to school. We got to her office, and I was like, 'Um, hi?'"

—Claire M.

9. The Incorrect Assumption

"When I was about 9, I was wildly chasing my little sister around the house when I suddenly felt an excruciating pain in my right foot. I fell to the floor screaming, and my parents rushed in. When they looked at my foot, all they could see was a small round cut. They told me it would feel better in no time.

"I insisted that it felt like something was in my foot, but they couldn't see anything, so they told me to just be patient. I hobbled around for the next day or two at school, but the pain only got worse.

"Finally, my mom agreed to take me to the doctor but said she wasn't happy that I was 'wasting her time with my hysterics.' When we got there, the doctor quickly concluded that there was a 'foreign body' in my foot, and after he tried yanking it out with pliers (to no success), he said it would require an operation. The next day, a surgeon cut open the bottom of my foot and removed over an inch of wooden barbecue skewer. I'm pretty sure my mom wanted to hide under the operating table and die."

—Hannah C.

10. The Jog Gone Awry

Courtesy of James Lamon

"My mom was running in our neighborhood while pushing a baby jogger. My infant sister rode in front; I, age 2, rode in back. As she was pushing us down a hill, she hit a huge bump and tripped. The jogger flipped over. My sister and I — still strapped inside — went skidding down the pavement. When my mom righted the jogger, she saw the pavement had scraped my infant sister's nose. I also had road rash and bruises. We were sobbing hysterically, and my mom also started sobbing hysterically.

"She gathered us in her arms and knocked on a stranger's door, sobbing, and told them she'd had an accident. They created some sort of triage station and comforted us and then called my dad at work. He picked up his shaken family at this stranger's house and took us home. We all survived.

"When asked about this story just now, my mom said, 'Yes, that was a freakout story for me for sure. Very upsetting for this momma.'"

—James L.

11. The Spiked Jell-O

"When my brother and I were little, we were on very strict diets, but if my parents were having a party, we were allowed to eat (within reason, obviously) the party food. One time — my brother was about 9, and I was 7 — a family friend of the single-male-no-kids variety brought spiked Jell-O and put it on the food table. My brother, the food connoisseur that he is, STACKED his plate with it. It was only about halfway through the party the true contents of the Jell-O were revealed. I think my brother probably had a nice buzz going on, along with being super hyper from all the sugar."

—Lauren S.

12. The Angry Look

Courtesy of Kristin Rossi

“Once, my dad forgot to pick me up at CCD. I sat on the church steps weeping for what seemed like hours (but was probably 35 extra minutes). A woman who worked for the church came out and sat with me, and you would not believe the stink-eye she gave my dad when he finally showed up."

—Kristin R.

13. The Wide Gap

"Once, when my baby bro was maybe 7 or 8, we were in Madrid waiting for the metro. My parents looked away for a *second*, and he literally fell through the gap off the platform. Luckily, my dad had lighting-quick reflexes and grabbed him back up, but let's say we didn't keep taking the train the rest of the trip."

—Christina D.

Let’s all take the pressure off parenting, and be a little more honest today on National Honesty Day. To celebrate, share your own #RefreshinglyHonest stories with Honest Tea.

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