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We've all been the mean mom at least once. Whether we feel a little guilty about it or even embrace it, we're not alone. So why not have a little fun with it?

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Mean Mom Story Winners

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Congratulations to the winners of our Mean Mom Story Contest! And a big thank you to our sponsor, Gift Tree!

First Place: $50 GiftTree.com Gift Certificate: Shannon

“137 Days of Good Behavior” When my son was almost 5, we were about to see the movie “Up.” While we waited for the movie to start, my son asked, “Why is everything always about you, Mom?” I was furious and heartbroken because we’d done so many things for him that weekend. I took him to a private place and told him how he hurt my feelings, and that we’d discuss it at home. I tallied up everything we did that weekend (Tae Kwon Do tournament with an entry fee, birthday party for which we had to buy a gift, fast food as a treat when we had groceries at home, the movie tickets…) and the bill came to $137. I made him earn a dollar a day with good behavior until we had $137, and spend that money on games, movies and toys for The Ronald McDonald House’s game room. When we delivered it, his consequence was over and we started again.
Whenever we talk about a high number, he uses 137, because he knows that 137 is a lot.

Second Place: $25 GiftTree.com Gift Certificate: Ashley

“No More Fighting” We had just walked through the gates of Disney and scanned our cards. The kids started to fight. “What’s my rule, no fighting at Disney” We turned around and walked back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day. I was a mean mom all day. They have don’t fight at Disney anymore.

Staff Pick: $25 GiftTree.com Gift Certificate: Angela

“The Frozen Treatment” I always got frozen cokes for my children while we shopped at Walmart. One day, my oldest (probably around was misbehaving. I told him the next time we went to Walmart he would not get a frozen coke. So the next time we went, I purchased extra large frozen cokes for everyone, including myself (even though I didn’t want one), except for my oldest. I then began to go on about how refreshing this frozen coke tasted and it was just too bad that he could not get one. Inside I did feel a little bad, but I needed to follow through on his punishment. And let me tell you, he never acted up again!

Winners will be notified today to claim their prizes.

Vote for Your Favorite Mean Mom Story

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The entries are in and we had a hard time narrowing them down! Below are our favorite of the Mean Mom stories entered into our contest. Cast your vote between now and midnight on February 28. The story with the highest vote count will win a $50 GiftTree gift certificate. The story with the second highest number of votes will win a $25 GiftTree gift certificate. We will also choose our favorite story and that person will win a $25 GiftTree gift certificate.

Which Mean Mom Story Should Win from GiftTree.com?

  • 7) "137 Days of Good Behavior" (54%, 58 Votes)
  • 2) "No More Fighting" (17%, 18 Votes)
  • 1) "The Frozen Treatment" (15%, 16 Votes)
  • 4) "Every Day a Mean Mom" (6%, 6 Votes)
  • 3) "Nothing Wrong with a Little Scream" (5%, 5 Votes)
  • 5) "The Clean Mean Mom" (4%, 4 Votes)
  • 6) "Long Distance Apology" (0%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 108

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1) “The Frozen Treatment” I always got frozen cokes for my children while we shopped at Walmart. One day, my oldest (probably around 8) was misbehaving. I told him the next time we went to Walmart he would not get a frozen coke. So the next time we went, I purchased extra large frozen cokes for everyone, including myself (even though I didn’t want one), except for my oldest. I then began to go on about how refreshing this frozen coke tasted and it was just too bad that he could not get one. Inside I did feel a little bad, but I needed to follow through on his punishment. And let me tell you, he never acted up again!

2) “No More Fighting” We had just walked through the gates of Disney and scanned our cards. The kids started to fight. “What’s my rule, no fighting at Disney” We turned around and walked back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day. I was a mean mom all day. They have don’t fight at Disney anymore.

3) “Nothing Wrong with a Little Scream” This morning I carried the title “Mean Mom”. I have 2 teenage sons and every morning it a struggle. They never want to get out of bed, they eat their breakfast slwo and every monring I am late getting to work. This morning, I had enough. Enough of them ignoring their alarms, not putting their homework up from the night before or having their clothes ready. So What did I do? What any other Mean Mom would do…..SCREAM!! -At the top of my lungs. Boy did it get their attention and put the boys in motion. Yes they were talking under their breathe and had attitudes all morning, but it worked.
Needless to say everyone was on time.

4) “Every Day a Mean Mom”  I don’t think one event caused me to be dubbed the Meanie Mommy. Every day I hear that someone doesn’t like me anymore. Last night I was really on my game though! I was exceptionally hated!

Last night my youngest decided she didn’t like me anymore because I wouldn’t let her take her favorite stuffed animal in the bath. My middle decided to take back her valentine because I wouldn’t let her color the pictures on her older sister’s homework even though she promised to stay in the lines, and the oldest decided she was going to move out because I had found out she skipped her 4th block class last Friday to go shopping at walmart with a friend and I grounded her (which will cause her to miss the Winter Ball on Friday).

The oldest has been grounded more days of her life than not, but somehow I’m the Mean Mom!!! I didn’t make her get in that food fight at school when she was 8, I didn’t stuff a frog in her pants pocket and put it in the dirty clothes to be washed (what a mess that was), I didn’t force her to try marijuana (thank God she was brilliant enough to hate it and never do it again), I certainly didn’t twist her arm and make her skip school. Yet, I’m the mean one….

I need one of those shirts! Think I’ll buy one when the teen pays me back for the dent she put in my truck when she kicked it in anger because she didn’t get her chores done and room cleaned in time to go to a friend’s house (she had a week, but I’m mean because I didn’t give her 8 days…)

I know I’m not alone though. This story probably could belong to every one of you! High five to all you mean Moms!!!!!

5) “The Clean Mean Mom” After spending an entire day with the kids, working to help them clean and re-organize their room, I went to the kitchen to make dinner. I went back to their room to tell them dinner was done only to find it completely trashed again (couldn’t walk into the room without stepping on something). While they were eating dinner, I collected everything in trash bags & they had to earn each individual item back. After a couple weeks, they went through the bags and decided there were things in there they didn’t really want or need anyway, and we donated them. It worked well at getting them to think about whether or not they still need everything they have or if it’s just taking up space in the house.

6) “Long Distance Apology” We were on a family trip to Hawaii. After a day of sight-seeing around the entire island (including stops in gift shops), I was cleaning up my kids’ laundry. I was shaking the sand out of the clothes and ‘clang’ out came a keychain. A keychain of a girl’s name in Hawaiian. The girl was my 13 year old’s ‘girlfriend.’ And he had no cash on him that day. So I deduced he stole it. After confronting him and talking about how wrong it was to steal, why it’s wrong, what would happen if he was caught, I made him write a letter of apology to the store, look up the address, and spend his money on postage to mail the item back to the store.

I don’t even think it was mean, it was just the right thing to do. he was mortified. He’s lucky the store was 90 minutes away, because if it was closer, we would have made him go in person to return it and apologize.

7) “137 Days of Good Behavior” When my son was almost 5, we were about to see the movie “Up.” While we waited for the movie to start, my son asked, “Why is everything always about you, Mom?” I was furious and heartbroken because we’d done so many things for him that weekend. I took him to a private place and told him how he hurt my feelings, and that we’d discuss it at home. I tallied up everything we did that weekend (Tae Kwon Do tournament with an entry fee, birthday party for which we had to buy a gift, fast food as a treat when we had groceries at home, the movie tickets…) and the bill came to $137. I made him earn a dollar a day with good behavior until we had $137, and spend that money on games, movies and toys for The Ronald McDonald House’s game room. When we delivered it, his consequence was over and we started again.
Whenever we talk about a high number, he uses 137, because he knows that 137 is a lot.

Share Your Mean Mom Story and Win

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Pick Your Prize from GiftTree.com

We all know that being the Mean Mom isn’t fun but is sometimes necessary. We want to help you turn your mean mom moments into prizes to pamper yourself! Tell us your story about what earned you “mean mom” status and you will be entered to win one of three Gift Certificates from GiftTree.com. Use them to order yourself a wine basket, chocolate treat, gourmet selection, cookies, aromatherapy kit, or even flowers! They have something every mom will love!

Being a mean mom is all about doing what is right for your kids, even when they may not understand it. It’s keeping them safe, happy, and healthy even when it means making decisions that may not be popular with your kids. It’s a tough job, but a gift from GiftTree.com is just what you need to make that mean mom mom feel like it was worth it.

So how do you enter?

Rules:

  • Between February 1 and 15, 2012, visit our Share Your Stories section and leave your Mean Mom story.
  • From February 16-28, we will choose our favorites and post them for public voting by poll.
  • On February 29 we will announce a $50 and a $25 winner by number of votes. We will also announce a $25 chosen by our staff.
  • Must be 18 or older to enter and a U.S. Resident.

Big thanks to our fabulous sponsor, GiftTree.com! Check them out for all of your gift giving needs. You will be amazed at their selection!

The Mean Mom Poem

I’ve seen this a few different ways in various places on the Internet, but this is the original, unedited version. I may disagree with just a couple of things in it, but overall it pretty much sums up how I feel about my mom’s “mean mom” status as well as my own.

The Meanest Mother in the World

I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different than the other kids’ also.

But at least, I wasn’t alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. You’d think we were on a chain gang. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we’d be gone an hour, that we be gone one hour or less–not one hour and one minute. I am nearly ashamed to admit it, but she actually struck us. Not once, but each time we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased. That poor belt was used more on our seats than it was to hold up Daddy’s pants. Can you imagine someone actually hitting a child just because he disobeyed? Now you can begin to see how mean she really was.

We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. The other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insults because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. Why, oh why, did we have to have a mother who made us feel different from our friends?

The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We couldn’t sleep till noon like our friends. So while they slept-my mother actually had the nerve to break the child-labor law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.

She always insisted upon us telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even if it killed us- and it nearly did.

By the time we were teen-agers, she was much wiser, and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the horn of a car for us to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by making our dates and friends come to the door to get us. If I spent the night with a girlfriend, can you imagine she checked on me to see if I were really there. I never had the chance to elope to Mexico. That is if I’d had a boyfriend to elope with. I forgot to mention, while my friends were dating at the mature age of 12 and 13, my old fashioned mother refused to let me date until the age of 15 and 16. Fifteen, that is, if you dated only to go to a school function. And that was maybe twice a year.

Through the years, things didn’t improve a bit. We could not lie in bed, “sick” like our friends did, and miss school. If our friends had a toe ache, a hang nail or serious ailment, they could stay home from school. Our marks in school had to be up to par. Our friends’ report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.

As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out.

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of us have ever been arrested, divorced or beaten his mate. Each of my brothers served his time in the service of this country. And whom do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You’re right, our mean mother. Look at the things we missed. We never got to march in a protest parade, nor to take part in a riot, burn draft cards, and a million and one other things that our friends did. She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults.

Using this as a background, I am trying to raise my three children. I stand a little taller and I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. Because, you see, I thank God, He gave me the meanest mother in the whole world.

(Copyright© 1967 by Bobbie Pingaro)

Mean Mom Anthem

I’m sure you’ve all seen this video at some point, but I view it as an anthem of sorts for all of us mean moms out there. Kids complain that we say the same things to them over and over again every day, but these things need to be said! Check out “The Mom” song by Anita Renfroe, set to the tune of the William Tell Overture.

How many of these things do you find yourself saying everyday? Better yet, how many of these things did you hear your own parents say and you swore that you would never say them but find yourself saying them anyway!

“No texting at the table
No more computer time tonight
Your iPod’s my iPod if you don’t listen up
Where you going and with whom and what time do you think you’re coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me
Makes you welcome everywhere you roam
You’ll appreciate my wisdom
Someday when you’re older and you’re grown
Can’t wait ’til you have a couple little children of your own
You’ll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly
But right now
I thank you NOT to roll your eyes at me”

The Start of Something

Last weekend I was having one of those “mom moments” where it seemed like every time I turned around the kids were doing something I didn’t want them to do and I was correcting them. One of those things involved sledding down the hill into the street. Although our street isn’t busy, I still didn’t want my daughter doing it because it didn’t seem safe. When I told her to stop, she gave me one of those looks that I knew in her head meant something to the effect of “that’s-not-fair-everyone-else-gets-to-do-it-you’re-so-mean.”

I headed back into the house and posted on Facebook that once again I am the mean mom and I wonder if anyone would buy shirts printed with “the mean mom.” I started getting responses immediately! At first it was kind of a joke and it felt good to hear other moms in the same situation I was. Then it got a little more serious. We ALL felt like we were the mean mom at one time or another and deserved the shirt that said so.

A few people started asking if they could really get the shirts. I started getting emails and private messages. People were sharing their stories about what they did to deserve “mean mom” status.

And so this site was born. A place where we can all vent a little about just how we came to be the mean moms. Whether you told them “no” because something was dangerous or you just put your foot down because you were tired of their behavior or you wouldn’t let them do something that “all the other kids” were doing, you probably got that same “mean mom” face that I did last weekend. And you probably will continue to. Let’s share our stories and feel a little about all being in this together.

There will be shirts…there will be prizes for stories…and a whole lot more!