Most Embarrassing Parental Moments

In 1997, I was a Junior in high school and Spanish class was the bane of my existence. The Spanish teacher, Mrs. Green, was definitely not the sharpest pluma in the school. She had a slight obsession with the role call, even though she was completely inept at doing it. Role would be called and filled in on a bubble form, but as she called out the student names that were supposedly absent, half would actually be present. So, she would start the role over, erasing and adding several times before she ever managed to get it right. The role was then hung on the outside of the door for the office assistance to pick up and call the parents of those that were absent. 

Katie, Steve,  and I got the idea to hide in the bathroom until Mrs. Green put the role out. We would then erase the absent bubble from our names before the office assistant picked it up, replace it on the door, and no one would ever know that we weren’t there. The plan worked to perfection time and time again.

One of these skipping mornings, with our bellies full of McDonalds sausage biscuits, my friends and I bee bopped  back to school just as school was being let out for morning break.  It was mere seconds before I noticed Katie’s dad marching toward her with his face painted up like Rambo, wearing full Army gear, and sporting the biggest pair of binoculars that I had ever seen. He stopped about 20 feet from her and yelled, “Katie, here, now!” The entire school erupted with laughter at the  sight of a 17-year-old girl being led away by her belt loop.  Around this time, I finally had sense enough to wonder… if he knew….did my mom know? I didn’t have long to contemplate that thought. There was my mother in hair rollers, no makeup, and still wearing her Bettie Boop PJ‘s. The school barely had time to catch their breath between the commando and Bettie Boop displays. I knew that we were going to be the bud of every joke for the next month, and my mothers lecture about not skipping school was hardly worth that sausage biscuit.

This is my most embarrassing parent moment, but it really pales in comparison to Katie’s dad. I thought that it really couldn’t get worse than his coming dressed like Rambo, but my mom said that they had arrived at school about 45 minutes before we actually got back.  Directly in front of the school is the city park. Katie’s dad was running and rolling on the ground from tree to tree, stopping periodically to use his binoculars. He brought a deer stand and actually climbed up a tree for awhile. He was having his own little secret op mission in the city park…..and I thought my parents had problems.

Her dad wasn’t quite finished embarrassing her though. The next day Katie come to school with a crayon written note pinned on her shirt that said, “if I skip school please call my daddy 000-0000.” She was too afraid that he was out in the park with binoculars to take it off.

So, what is the most embarrassing thing you’ve done to your children or had done to you by your parents?