Top 20 ways kids embarrass parents, according to new poll

Kids don't embarrass their parents on purpose, they're just doing what comes naturally with the feelings they have. But we can still feel mortified all the same...

When you have kids, looking forward to family days out and planning trips to popular holiday destinations might top the list of things you most look forward to. Although these can bring some cherished memories, life with kids is never plain sailing - struggling to get your kids out the door and subsequent arguments and upsets can dampen some of the good times.

These challenging times do, however, make for amusing anecdotes once the dust has settled and everyone can look back on an unfortunate episode and laugh. In this spirit, parents are sharing the top 20 ways their kids embarrass them every day. A survey of 1000 parents with kids aged 2-13 was carried out by Chessington World of Adventures and OnePoll.com to find out just how kids mortify their mum and dad. 

Most admit to being embarrassed by their children daily, and two thirds of parents admit their kids' behaviour spikes their stress levels. The study also found a third of parents struggle to calm their children down once they're restless, with 27 per cent
wishing public spaces were available where children could be free to express themselves and display spirited behaviour without judgement.

A further 23 per cent of parents reveal they've unhelpfully been on the receiving end of unsolicited remarks about their child's behaviour in public and 28 per cent admit to bribing their children in a bid to bring their behaviour under control. 

To help parents out, Chessington World of Adventures has teamed with South Western Railway to help parents out. They are launching a novel 'Noisy Carriage', especially for families visiting the park, where kids can dance to DJs and play games and make noise without judgment. The 'Noisy Carriage' leaves from Waterloo from 9.17 on Monday 29th July and Wednesday 31st July, arriving at Chessington South around 36 minutes later.

As the study reveals a list of the top 20 ways children embarrass their parents, we share those below, and reveal our own stories of public shame too.

Top 20 ways children embarrass their parents

• Running away or wandering off when they've been told not to.
• Screaming.
• Commenting out loud on other people around them with no filter.
• Having to carry them kicking and screaming in public.
• Spilling food or drink everywhere in a restaurant/cafe.
• Kicking off when every other child is behaving perfectly.
• Having a strop by sitting down and not moving.
• Clinging onto you and refusing to let go when they don't want to do something.
• Refusing to let another child have a turn on something.
• Repeating a private conversation they weren't supposed to share.
• Opening the toilet door when you're on the loo and other people are there.
• Knocking something fragile off a shelf in a supermarket or shop.
• Repeating something you've said in front of the person you were talking about.
• Swearing without realising they've said a rude word.
• Hiding in rails of clothes in a shop and jumping out at strangers.
• Singing at the top of their lungs.
• Having to clean up when they've been sick.
• Wetting themselves when they're too old to be doing so.
• Calling you fat in public.
• Arguing with a sibling.

GoodtoKnow social media editor, Carly, is a mum-of-three. She shares her story of parental embarrassment saying "We had a wander around the Alton Towers hotel recently as we’ve only stayed in the fairy lodges previously. Standard practice is telling the kids not to run in the hotel corridors (you had to walk past rooms to get to the next part of the hotel), when all five suddenly drop to the ground and start army crawling instead... I still have no idea why but they found it hilarious, and the looks we got from onlookers was something else."

Our consumer writer and money editor, Sarah, takes her nephew out for days out and has a hilarious and embarrassing story relating to him. Sarah says "I was on a day trip with my four year old nephew, my dog and my mother. We’d just sat down for lunch when my nephew announced that he needed the toilet right then and there, but as I was one person in charge of a dog (that wasn’t allowed in the cafe, or toilets) and a child that I wasn’t prepared to send off in search of his grandmother, or to the toilets by himself, I started to get a bit panicked.

"My nephew announced that he would do a ‘nature wee’ in a nearby bush. He then asked me to pick him up ‘like Grammy does’ (which actually meant nothing to me - why did he need picking up?) Feeling the time pressure weighing down on me and my panic rising, I tried to manoeuvre my nephew into a suitable spot to discreetly do his business. 

"However, by this point, he was already naked from the waist down, in full view of the 60 or so people sitting there enjoying their lunch outdoors, and bending forward with his bits tucked between his legs so the wee was like a fountain, gloriously emerging from between his bottom cheeks. I was mortified - but I now have a newfound appreciation for any parent who handles a child and a dog, solo. You are champions."

News editor, Lucy says "When my eldest started school, the same child from his class would antagonise my youngest (a year younger and about to start school the following year,) for reasons I didn't understand. I asked the child's mother several times to get him to stop, but his behaviour towards my little one got so bad, his hackles would rise instantly on seeing him.

"One day he broke free from me and chased the antagonistic child around the playground while I went in hot pursuit - and the other parents looked on. He eventually tackled the child to the ground and by the time I reached them rolling on the floor, my child had a huge chunk of this child's hair in his hand that he'd ripped out in a rage. I grabbed it and shoved it in my pocket I was so mortified.

"Once my youngest started school himself a year later, he'd often decide he didn't fancy it occasionally and would sprint away from his classroom. He'd scale the school fence and Usain Bolt down the road while I screamed "somebody catch him" because he was far too fast for me. On another occasion and not my finest moment, he once behaved so badly in a park I pretended he wasn't mine when somebody asked who his parent was... I could go on, but I'll stop there!"

For more on public embarrassment, whether you have a toddler or a teen, both can have tantrums - an expert shares how to help them. You're not alone if you have a toddler who hits,  and if you're struggling with your 7-year-old, there's a reason children of this specific age become more emotional.