I owe an apology to all of the moms I judged prior to being a mom. I saw things and thought I will never do that! Well I am now a mom of three and I have done all of those things I said I would never do! Yikes!

My kids will NEVER eat McDonalds. I think we went twice last weekend when my husband was out of town. I just didn’t feel like cooking and cleaning up the mess for the little people.

My kids will never be messy. Last week we went to some event and my 3 year old had bed head and cream cheese all over his face from breakfast. My 4-year-old’s hair looked wet but really I just sprayed too much detangler in her hair.

I will never wear pajama pants in public. Well maybe they were not pajama pants, but I had on some pretty comfy pants at preschool drop off the other day.

I will never yell at my kids in public. I am not talking about yelling in a parking lot because you mean business. I am talking about when you lose patience with your kid at the store because they want a Hello Kitty notebook even though you said, “No”.

I will never let my kid touch everything in a public bathroom. No matter the incentives or the pep talk you give them they always touch everything. The tampon dispenser must look like a treasure box. My kids touch everything, and I just have to try not to think about it too much. I just have them wash their hands real well!

I will never let my kids watch videos on my phone as a means to keep them calm. When I take my daughter to gymnastics I let my son watch a video to avoid meltdowns in the studio lobby.

I will never let my kid ride in a grocery cart without a cover. It just falls off so what is the point? I just make sure to wipe off the handle.

I will never use anything but a cloth diaper. I did not have the energy for cloth with baby number two, and they just were not holding in all of the poop. I think it is great if people do it but it was not working for me. I use disposable now.

I will never be late. We are late to almost everything because it is hard loading up three kids, especially when your toddler insists on wearing a pair of shoes that are too small.

I will never let my house get out of control. It is mostly the laundry I cannot keep up with that mounts in my couch. I call it Mount Laundry More.

There are certainly other things I do that I said I would never do, but this just shows that I was wrong. I get it now. Sorry moms who I judged! This parenting thing is hard, but my love for my kids keeps me going and the fact that they don’t hold grudges helps.

This article was originally published in March 2025.