92. When Your Kid Embarrasses You in Public

Picture this: you're at a T-ball event, surrounded by a sea of parents, and your five-year-old, suddenly announces something so inappropriate that you wish the ground would swallow you up. 

If you've ever been caught in the comedic chaos of parenting moments like this, you're in good company. Join me, Katie Fenske, on the Burnt Pancakes podcast as we navigate the wonderfully embarrassing adventures of motherhood, from kids mooning security cameras to heartfelt misunderstandings that turn into life lessons. These stories aren't just about mortification; they're reminders that laughter is often the best way to handle the unpredictability of our little ones.

This episode is all about embracing the humor in those red-faced moments that every parent faces. From public outbursts to toddlers mistaking strangers for royalty, these tales promise a laugh and a sense of camaraderie among fellow moms. We'll also hear from some listeners who bravely share their own memorable experiences. 

Whether it's candid observations at the grocery store or the unexpected honesty of young children, these anecdotes highlight the hilarity hidden in the chaos of everyday parenting. So let's share the laughs, find solace in our shared experiences, and maybe even see these challenging times as the stories we'll cherish tomorrow.

📺 Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOpw5ui4uxJHx0tLFVtpnfSkpObfc4d-K

You can find Katie at:
website: burntpancakes.com
YouTube: @burnt.pancakes
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Email: katie@burntpancakes.com

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Transcript

00:09 - Katie Fenske (Host)
Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Burnt Pancakes podcast, the podcast where we celebrate the hot mess side of motherhood, and I remind you that everyone burns their first pancake. I'm your host, katie Fenske, and today we're talking about something every mom has experienced at least once, if not a thousand times getting absolutely mortified by your kid in public, because if your child hasn't embarrassed you in front of strangers, are you even a mom? The other day, my middle son told me at baseball to not embarrass him in the stands, and I was like me, embarrass you. How many times have you embarrassed me and I am not embarrassing? Anyways, I thought I would devote a whole episode to all the ways my kids have embarrassed me, so I have it documented for them. I'm going to share some of the stories that you, the listeners, have shared with me as well. Now, before I start with my story time, I wanted to remind all of you, toddler bombs, about my new potty training digital course. It is designed to walk parents through every step of the potty training process so that you have a clear, easy to follow guide for potty training, as well as answers to all the frequently asked questions that I get in my one-on-one potty training consultations. The course is made up of over 20 short videos that are easy to watch from your phone or computer or listen to in your car on your commute. Plus, you get access to my private parenting group, a 40 page digital digital guide and me for support. So for more information, check out the show notes. 

01:50
Okay, let's start with the most recent moment where a child has embarrassed me. This one comes from my wonderful third born. Maverick just started T-Ball this year. He's five and has literally grown up at the baseball field. Started t-ball this year, he's five and has literally grown up at the baseball field. He used to run around the bleachers and go to the snack bar, so I figured it's finally his turn. This is going to be so fun. He's finally going to get a chance to play. 

02:20
Well, we had a little team meet and greet with his team before the season started and we were all on the field with our kids. The coach was giving a little talk and then the team mom gave her spiel and then said okay, I want all the players to introduce themselves by saying their name, their age and who their favorite baseball player is. Granted, these kids are four and five by this point. They've already lost their attention span. So I didn't expect this to go too smoothly, I didn't expect too much. 

02:45
But it was Maverick's turn and when he came up he like barely whispered his name. So I had to say it out loud oh, his name's Maverick. And then I said okay, how old are you, maverick? And he goes uh, I'm 75. And I'm like okay, no, he's five years old. Um, tell them who your favorite team is. 

03:04
And he looks over at the team mom. He points at her and says I like your nuts. Oh my gosh. He said it nice and loud for everyone to hear. I was like oh my gosh, I like your nuts. Like he clearly learned that from his two older brothers. They were there as well, jet and Ronan, and they just started laughing. 

03:27
My reaction I like literally instantly grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the group where I proceeded to lecture him about using appropriate language and that was not appropriate to say. I was livid, but also so embarrassed that all these other kids were like standing there doing it right and my kid goes I like your nuts. Livid, but also so embarrassed that all these other kids were like standing there doing, doing it right, and my kid goes I like your nuts. Um, I know he probably did this because he was feeling embarrassed, maybe a little uncomfortable in front of people, and his way of dealing with it is acting out and being silly like how his brothers would be. Um, I, I guarantee he learned something like this from them. But oh my gosh, it was so, so embarrassing. I was mortified and like to make it worse a few kids later, it's my neighbor, um, he was there with his dad and when it was his turn to do it he he's younger than Maverick and he did it perfectly. He was like my name is this and I am four years old and my favorite team is the Dodgers and he like stepped back with his dad and I was like what the heck, maverick? That was a great first impression for our team. They all know you are now the ah the trouble kid on the team, but I'm really hoping this isn't an indicator of how the rest of the season is going to go, because that was so embarrassing. Okay, let's move on to another one of my sweet cherub children. 

04:56
This story comes from my middle son, jet. He is now seven, but this probably happened. I bet he was like four or five also, we were shopping at the grocery store and we were in a store that we'd normally. It's not like a regular grocery store, so we're not there that often. I was near like the butcher section, kind of looking at the meat. The cart was there and I started to hear my boys laughing and then they said they were on camera and I'm like what are they talking about? What's going on? 

05:25
I didn't think much of it, but then I looked at the security camera. So they had one of those like big TVs that displays. You know, sometimes when you walk into a store you can see yourself. My boys always like to dance in the camera. It showed what was being displayed. Well, jet was bent over with his pants down, doing a little shimmy, mooning the camera in the middle of the grocery store oh my gosh. And there were customers that were walking by and he was just doing to the camera. He was like look, mom, mom, I'm on camera. I was like, oh my God, my kid is mooning the security camera in the middle of the grocery store, on display on the big TV. I actually don't know what I said at the moment. I was very embarrassed, probably gave him a nice lecture in the car, didn't let him buy a treat, but yeah, that was pretty embarrassing. Okay, so we cannot leave out my first pancake, can we? So, ronan, my first pancake. 

06:28
Um, he is now 10, but he probably has been the one that has embarrassed me the most. Um, he was like a wild child when he was a toddler and, I swear, the minute he started moving he was like running and he was just always getting into something. Well, this story is from when he was in third grade, I think. So now he's in fifth, but this was a couple of years ago. 

06:52
After school, he hopped in the car at the pickup line and said that there was a fight at recess while they were playing basketball, and he, like, gave me all of the details. He said there was a group of fourth graders and they were hitting his friends and him. And he said that his friend Ralphie got so hurt that when the bell rang they all had to run back to class and he couldn't, like he was still laying there on the ground. Um, another one of his friends got hit and had to go home. He said his friend Nash had to go home that day, that he went to the office because he had a scrape, I think he said he had a scrape on his arm. 

07:29
But like I kept asking him all these questions like what happened? Like what do you mean? Did you help your friends up? Did you tell the teacher? Like I was in shock. Nothing like this had ever happened before. There hadn't even been mentioned of bullies, let alone like a physical fight. I was like, oh my gosh, why are we sending him to school like this? So of course I questioned him, I got all the details. I asked him if he told his teacher and he said that day he actually had a sub. So I was kind of like well, I can't email her right now because she's not there, I don't know. It's just sounded really serious and I was kind of upset about it. Uh, I was concerned about the kids that went home. Ronan did actually have a scrape on his arm too. So I was like something really did happen at school. 

08:15
So I waited a day, thinking that like, okay, once the teacher gets back to school they'll notify her and they'll tell me about it, or the office will tell me about it, cause, like as a former teacher, I know that that kind of behavior would definitely be something that they would address with the parents. That wouldn't be something that's like oh, it happened at school, it's fine. Um, I didn't think that they would tell me, like who was involved. I thought they would just say, hey, an incident happened at school. Um, you know, some of the boys were being rough and, you know, disciplinary action has been taken, I don't know something along those lines. 

08:54
Um, he told my husband, too, what happened. He got home from school and he was like dad, ralphie got hurt and they were punching us and when we were playing basketball they were kicking us around. So he was in agreement. He was like this is not okay, like I cannot believe something like this is happening at your school. So, let's see, it was probably like a full day had gone by and I didn't hear anything. 

09:18
So then I decided like, okay, this is something I need to address and I'm not normally the one to like call the school email the principal, but I was like I think I need to email the principal. So, yeah, I think that was the first time I ever emailed her about anything. So I just like wrote this email, knowing like, okay, there probably is like a little version, the school version, and there's Ronan's version and I'm sure maybe it's not exactly the same, but like something happened. So it's like hi, mrs Roselli, ronan came home yesterday and said that there was an incident at recess where some of the fourth graders hit some of the third graders. Ronan came home with a scrape on his arm and I just wanted to hear, like your version of what happened and just see if this is being addressed. 

10:01
Okay, so here's the embarrassing part. She did write back to me. She said that she brought Ronan into the office to talk to him about it because she was not aware of something that happened. And he said that he and his friends were playing basketball and he fell when they were playing and got a scrape on his arm. So, like no other kids got hurt, no one got sent home, no fourth graders, nothing. He fell, played basketball and got hurt. She also clarified with me that the fourth graders don't even share, like, the recess playground with the third graders, so there was no way that they would have been out there at the same time. So, okay, so embarrassed. I wrote back to her and I just thanked her and I said thank you for clarifying things. Um, I will definitely talk to Ronan about this, but I was mortified. I don't think I have emailed the principal since this happened. I was pretty traumatized. 

11:00
But anyways, ronan got in the car after pickup, right after school and I, like, was trying not to make eye contact with the principal and I grilled him on what happened. I was like I talked to your principal and she said there was no fight and he was just so convincing in his story and everything was like the same when he told my husband and the same when he told me the second time. So he just responded and said, oh yeah, I was talking about that movie. Remember when we saw that movie at Gigi's house, that karate kid movie? He saw the karate kid, the newer one, and there was a fight in it and some big kids were punching some other kids. So I was talking about the movie and I was like, okay, yeah, that completely makes sense, because that was exactly what happened in that movie. 

11:46
Um, his original story was just so convincing and he was just repeating what he saw in the movie, just making it all up, not sure why in the movie, just making it all up, not sure why. Well, I had a very long discussion with him about the boy who cried wolf and how, if he tells me something that happened at school, I might go to his principal, I might go to his teacher. So it's always important to tell the full truth. I probably lectured him the entire way home but I was like, oh my God, I cannot believe I emailed you, the principal, about something that never even happened, oh my gosh. So the good news is I haven't had to email the principal since this event. Um, maybe I'm just more embarrassed. I don't want to email her, but there has not been another incident of him making up stories like this incident of him making up stories like this. So, yeah, my boys like to make a fool out of me quite often. 

12:42
All right, I did ask you all to send in some of your most embarrassing moments. I put a little story out on Instagram and I got back some really funny ones that made me feel better about my parenting, my motherhood. So here are a few that came from you, the listeners. Okay, this mom said. My toddler pointed at a man with long hair at the grocery store and yelled look, mommy, it's a princess. That's a fun one. Another mom said at church, during the quiet prayer, my four-year-old loudly asked if God could see her underwear. Another mom said my son told the cashier at Target that mommy drank wine at breakfast. Spoiler alert. This mom said. 

13:30
Another one in the middle of a crowded park my daughter screamed mommy, why is your tummy so squishy? Oh, don't we hate that, or do you have a baby in there? I hate when they say that. Well, that reminds me one time. I forget I think it was Ronan or Jet I was filling up the bathtub and I turned around to get something out of the cabinet and I think it was Ronan said mom, why are your buns so big? Luckily, no one heard that, but I did, okay. 

13:58
Another mom wrote in and said while waiting in line at the pharmacy, my kid announced that I needed medicine because I had stinky feet. Yeah, that's embarrassing, um. Be careful what you say in front of your kids, all right. Another one said during a family gathering my child proudly told everyone that daddy sleeps on the couch when he's in trouble. Yikes, that's embarrassing, um. My little one asked the waitress if she had a baby in her belly and, side note, she didn't. She was probably in her fifties. And the last one at the library my daughter shouted that librarian looked like granny from her favorite cartoon and granny was not so amused. 

14:43
Okay, so the moral of the story? Here's the thing Our kids will embarrass us, because that's just how kids are they're still figuring out the world and they don't know yet that you're not supposed to just comment about someone's mustache or announce the whole grocery store that mommy tooted. So the next time your kids say something mortifying, just remember you're not alone. Every mom has definitely been there. 

15:10
Motherhood is full of moments that make you just want to crawl in a hole, but those are the stories that we laugh about later, or the stories that you tell on your podcast. So let's embrace the chaos and laugh at all these embarrassing moments and know that we're all just doing an amazing job, even if our kids just announced to everyone at the park that you have a wedgie. If you have an embarrassing moment to share, please DM me on Instagram or email me at katie at burntpancakescom. I might just read yours on a future episode. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review or share it with your mom friends, because laughter really is the best way to survive this whole motherhood thing. So until next week's momversation, remember that everyone burns their first pancake, so just keep flipping.