Some parents just don't seem to know what they've taken a joke or threat just a little bit too far. And the press loves nothing more than reporting on stupid things parents have done (ok, who am I kidding - it's always the mothers. Clearly stupid mothers are more newsworthy than stupid fathers).
Often, it's easy to sympathise with people who were probably at their wits' end, tired, emotional and just a little bit stupid. But that's not going to stop us from re-living their cock ups here on Dollymix! Just for you we've gathered together all the best stories for you as a handy guide for what not to do when rearing your progeny.
No children were harmed in the making of this Top 5.
5. Selling your baby on eBay
An unnamed couple have just had their baby returned by the German authorities. They had tried to sell their "nearly new" baby on eBay for 1 euro because it has "gotten too loud", but the authorities have now agreed that it was simply a "joke gone awry" and not an attempt at child trafficking. No bids were received, which suggests eBay is not the best place to sell a baby into child slavery.
4. Making your children get out and walk
You know when your parents threaten to stop the car and make you walk home if you don't stop fighting with your sibling? Maybe then even went as far as actually stopping the car to put the shits up you. Well, this mother, presumably spurred on by child psychologists who tell you to follow through on your threats of discipline, left her two daughters to walk home down a busy road.
3. Allowing your 9-year-old to ride on the subway
When Lenore Skenazy allowed her adventure-seeking son the chance to make his own way home, she was met with a storm of bad publicity. As she herself says "The fact that a child is literally forty times more likely to die in a car accident than at a stranger's hands makes no difference. Driving is seen as safe." The only stupid thing Skenazy did was write an intelligent article for fellow parents to read.
2. Letting your kid go car surfing
Want to prove to your 10-year-old and his friend that you're a cool mum? Let them both stand on the roof of your car as you drive them down the road! But don't brake, like 27-year-old Leah Saldana did. Then you're just the stupid parent who nearly (but didn't - don't write in) gave your child severe brain damage. Oopsy!
1. Driving without a car seat
Now what was it that Lenore Skenazy said about your kid getting killed in a car accident? Apparently, that doesn't trouble the minds of the celebrities who keep getting caught driving about with their kids unsecured in a car seat. Step forward Anthony Kiedis and Britney Spears (twice). You get to be top for 1) being stupid 2) forgetting that the paps are going to capture said stupidity on camera so we can all get our pitchforks and burning effigies ready.
