PARENTING MISTAKES 101

This is from Slate magazine’s Care and Feeding parenting advice column:
“Dear Care and Feeding,
I have a 2-year-old son who recently developed a problem going to sleep in his own bed. One night, after our bedtime routine of reading stories, his dad and I were saying good night and his dad added the ‘don’t let the bedbugs bite!’ saying. Immediately, a look of horror crossed my son’s face and he sat up and pointed at the bed asking ‘Bite? Bite?’ over and over. Ever since then, he refuses to lay down in his bed and go to sleep. I usually have to hold him until he falls asleep in my arms and then lay him down. For what it’s worth, he does seem really scared of the bed, so I have a hard time forcing him to lay in his bed. What can we do?”
* Move into a better motel?
* This isn’t what she’s looking for, but it WOULD be hilarious to fill his bed with those wind-up chomping teeth.
* Why is this your problem, mom? Dad started it. Let him rock the kid to sleep each night.
* How do you “don’t let the bedbugs bite” anyway? Stay up all night with a flashlight and a can of Raid?
* Tell him don’t worry, the monsters under the bed eat all the bedbugs.
PHONE TOPIC: What did your parents say that scared the bejeezus out of you as a kid?