Here are the top ten parenting fails shared on the podcast so far! Two weeks ago, we started the countdown at number 30 and counted down to 21. In last week’s episode, we counted down from 20 to 11. And while all of those stories were great, and I hope you go back and listen to them if you haven’t already, this episode features the best of the best parenting fails shared on the podcast.
I realize that “best” is not really the best word when you’re talking about parenting fails, because one parenting fail isn’t better than another one - which made ranking these stories quite difficult. But I really think you will get something more than just comic relief by listening to these top 10 stories.
The takeaway I hope you get isn’t that mistakes are no big deal. It’s that we all make mistakes, and that there’s no such thing as a perfect parent. And that being the case, it’s much healthier to be able to laugh at yourself than beat yourself up - not to mention much more entertaining.
I'll continue to ask guests to share parenting fails, but here are the storytellers of the best fails shared on the podcast so far.
10. Kristen Chase, half of the duo from Cool Mom Picks, who were interviewed in episode 45 of the podcast.
9. Greg Pembroke, author of Reasons My Kid is Crying, who was interviewed in episode 4 of the podcast.
8. Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and author of more than 30 books, who was interviewed in episode 51of the podcast.
7. Hillary Frank, host of the Longest Shortest Time podcast, who was interviewed in episode 18 of the podcast.
6. Deva Dalporto, the YouTube sensation whose videos about parenthood have been downloaded millions of times, who was interviewed in episode 15 of the podcast.
5. Jill Smokler, the mom who created the Scary Mommy website, who was interviewed in episode 21 of the podcast.
4. Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, who was interviewed in episode 53 of the podcast.
3. Adam Mansbach, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Go the F**k to Sleep and the book You Have to F**king Eat,who was interviewed in episode 33 of the podcast.
2. Jeannie Gaffigan, comedian Jim Gaffigan’s writing partner who also happens to be his wife and was his co-writer on the Jim Gaffigan Show, who was interviewed in episode 38 of the podcast.
1. Michele Lepe, best known as Nina on the Good Night Show on Sprout. It’s not easy to rank parenting fails, but I knew this story would be number one as soon as I decided to do a countdown. I was so grateful when Michele agreed to be my first guest ever on the podcast. It helped launch the show with a great interview and she knocked it out of the park when she shared her parenting fail.