Whether it’s questionable dating choices or even movie questionable professional choices, between them, the six friends have made so many terrible decisions in their lives that it’s a wonder how they haven’t ended up inadvertently killing themselves.
With Friends’ main characters being New York socialites, adapting to parent life has proved to be achingly difficult for them, going through more growing pains than the children themselves. The characters have proved time and again that they aren’t great parents, especially with each other’s children, but after being humiliated by their own parents, there’s very little of an example to follow
Rachel Teaches Ben Practical Jokes
Emma is the reason Rachel arguably has the best story arc of all the main characters, as her transformation from an immature runaway bride to a professional career woman and mother was one of the most successful narratives of the show. However, even in the later seasons she still showed that she wasn’t the perfect example of a parent, as she showed Ben how to play pranks on his father, including putting marker on his face and lining the toilet with cling film.
Monica And Chandler Abandon Emma To Have Sex
With Rachel being a single mother, it can be hard for her to juggle a full time job and be a mother at the same time. Thankfully, she has some great friends that will babysit whenever she needs.
However, when it’s Monica and Chandler’s turn to babysit, they quickly leave Emma in the lounge while they have sex in the bedroom. Joey walked in and figured out what was going on, so he took Emma in to his apartment, which itself is another thing that he probably shouldn’t have done without informing the couple.
The Way Ross And Rachel Decided Who Should Be Emma’s Guardians
As being a godparent means that if the worst happens to the actual parents, then the godparents become that child’s guardian, it led to a big argument between the friends over who gets to be Emma’s guardian if something happens to both Ross and Rachel. This led to people completely self unaware throwing their hats in the ring to become guardians including Joey and Amy, and it even led to some hoping others would literally die.
Monica Banging Ben’s Head Then Hiding The Bump
Back before Ross and the show seemingly completely abandoned Ben after Emma was born, Ross also sought the help of his friends to babysit, including his sister. When Ross wasn’t there, Monica picks up Ben, spins him around, and throws him in the air before catching him. As he clearly enjoys it, she keeps doing it, but then inadvertently throws him up to the wooden beam in the kitchen, hitting his head. But the worst part is that she tries hiding it from Ross by making Ben wear a hat.
Frank Jr. Offers Her One Of His Children
Why she agreed to be her brother’s surrogate is one of the many questions fans have about Phoebe, but weird of a choice as it was, she still did it. However, she wasn’t just pregnant with one child, or even twins, but triplets. A few years later, Frank Jr. returns with the triplets, now toddlers, clearly fatigued, overwhelmed, and very, very tired. He tries to convincing Phoebe in to taking one off his hands, and she almost does. It’s only when he’s trying to sell them to Phoebe when he realizes that he can’t part with any of them.
Rachel’s Sister Pierces Emma’s Ear
The biggest mistakes parents seem to make on the show is misguidedly trusting friends and family to take care of their children. As Rachel’s sister, Amy, is in town, she insists on taking out Emma for a day, even if she couldn’t pronounce her name. When she returned from a grand day out of shopping, Amy revealed that she pierced Emma’s ear, which didn’t just freak out Rachel, but turned Ross into intense Ross.
Joey And Chandler Leave Ben On A Bus
Though having children is one of Chandler’s best story arcs, one of the very earliest encounters Chandler ever had with a child would make viewers think the character couldn’t ever be a father, even though he should be used to it as he’s somewhat of a dad to Joey. When looking after Ben, Joey and Chandler get caught up flirting with two women, leading them to leave the baby on the bus.
The Gellers Picking Favorites
Though most of the parenting mistakes come from the main 20/30 year old characters, one of the worst examples of parenting comes from a couple that should know better.
Their relationship with their parents makes for some of the funniest Ross and Monica sibling moments, but the brother and sister clearly have some deep rooted mommy and daddy issues. It becomes clear that Ross is the Gellers’ favorite child through several instances, including when they used Monica’s old belongings to block a flood in their garage.
Joey Taking A Toy Away From Emma
Staying alone is one of the saddest things about Joey and he may never get a child of his own, and his lack of time around children may be the reason why he is so bad around them. Though Rachel may have taken the cuddly toy away from Joey in the first place, when the penguin is in Emma’s cot, Joey violently pulls it away from Emma and storms in to his room. Joey is arguably just as much of a child as Emma, but he surely must know not to take a toy away from a baby.
Phoebe Using Ben To Meet Sting
When Ben is going to school and it’s found out that one of his classmates is Sting’s son, Phoebe all of a sudden starts helping Ross with school duties, picking up and dropping off the child. Not only does she completely use Ben, and it’s a surprise that Ben would even know Phoebe’s name as they’ve never spent time together before, but it even gets worse, as she ends up totally stalking Sting’s family.