I'm Questioning Humanity After Reading These Pieces Of Parenting "Advice" People Have Actually Received
When you become a parent, you're automatically signing up for lots of unwelcome comments, oftentimes from total strangers. Every once in a while, you hear something truly helpful. But other times, these critiques, criticisms, and pieces of advice are straight-up annoying. So, over on Reddit, people shared some of the most irritating comments they've received.
1."When I had my baby, my good friend was pregnant, and she told me, 'Don't hold your baby so much, or they'll never learn to be without you.' Here we are several months later and baby is super independent. I held her as much as I wanted. On the other hand, my friend could also not resist constantly holding her baby once he got here. He can now not nap unless he falls asleep on her first. People just can't fully comprehend raising a child until they have one. But most people I know will still try to give advice because they're trying to be helpful, so I'll smile, nod, and do whatever I want anyway."
2.“'You need to get your anxiety under control because all your cortisol is getting into the breast milk and that’s why he’s not sleeping through the night.' Cool, let me get right on that and flip that switch!"
3."Your baby doesn’t need to sleep during the day. She should sleep at night!"
4."My sister-in-law, who is pregnant for the first time, told me, a mom of two, that my kids were too wild and she would be a lot stricter with her kid. I can’t wait for the baby to get here."
5."I was struggling on Christmas Eve. My two year old daughter is dealing with a pretty rough bout of stranger anxiety. So when we were at my aunt’s house, she clung to me like a little Koala bear. I kept telling her to go and play, and if she gets scared she can come back, but I was trying to encourage her to at least try. I finally got her to go over by the toys (maybe 5ft away from me), and she played with my younger cousin’s daughter for maybe 15 minutes..."
"....Then someone rang the doorbell, causing the dog to bark, and my daughter came running back in tears. Of course, I had literally told her to come back to me when she got scared, so I held her for a few minutes before she felt calm enough to play again. My older cousin, who has no kids but has three dogs (and constantly equates pet parenthood with actual parenthood), literally started lecturing me about how I’m coddling her and that she’s going to never learn how to handle herself if I 'keep this up.' I was LIVID, but I smiled and nodded, and about half an hour later when I had to change a diaper, I put his coat down under the diaper-changing pad. 😂😂"
6.“Once you have a kid you just do all the stuff you did before, you just bring the kid with you.”
7."Telling me that a 10+ hour flight is no big deal, and my to year old should be able to handle it with no screens. Also, that I’m making him lazy by still using a stroller. I’d like to see this tone-deaf childless person fly to Europe with a toddler with no entertainment and carry around a 32-pound wriggly and bitey Tasmanian devil for two weeks."
8."My (childless) sister-in-law shamed me for not making separate, more bland meals for my daughter to eat. Obviously, I'm not gonna feed her spicy stuff like jalapeños or stuff she doesn't like, but apparently, I'm borderline abusing my child by 'forcing' her to eat 'adult' food..."
'...The 'abusive' food we've fed our daughter recently includes pot roast, sautéed zucchini, thom kha soup, three-bean and bell pepper chili, caprese salad, paneer and veggies in various Indian-style simmer sauces, chicken and rice curry soup, and butternut squash risotto. None of the food is spicy, but it is spiced, which apparently makes us bad parents, according to my SIL. My daughter has a broad palette, loves her vegetables, and is always interested in trying new food. I guess not keeping my kid on a diet of chicken tenders and mac n cheese makes me a bad parent, though (no shame to parents who feed their kids stuff like mac 'n' cheese and chicken tenders!)."
9."I was getting dental work done and was falling asleep while getting a filling because I was so tired. The assistant said he understood sleep deprivation because he had two kittens… I asked if he had tried tandem breastfeeding them yet."
10."One day, I was venting to a (childless) friend about how it had been a rough couple weeks (my husband is a fire captain and works 24-hour shifts), and she said, 'Well, you chose to have two kids, you should have realized it would be hard.' I guess people without kids think it's never OK to vent."
11."One of my childless friends, who is a pediatric nurse, said I should hit my child if they act up. I responded with, 'Don't give me parenting advice unless you want me to hit you.' She has kept her mouth shut since."
12."My 50-year-old child-free coworker (whom I usually adore) once said to me she wants three months of paid time off because it’s 'not fair that women who choose not to have kids don’t also get three months of paid vacation.' I was like lady it is far from a vacation but ok."
13."When I was doing fertility treatments, I got unsolicited advice from people who told me to just 'relax' and I would be able to conceive."
14."When my first was six weeks old, and I was recovering from an emergency C-section and not in a good space, my childless friends visited. One had recently purchased a puppy. She told me raising a puppy was more difficult than raising a newborn."
15."My future sister-in-law told me once she was 'shocked' at how much fruit my niece ate. She said she was questioning the food choices. She’s currently pregnant with her first and I’m excited for the day her kid only eats blueberries and cheese for a week straight."
16."When my first was three months old, my (single, childless) brother-in-law asked, 'Are you STILL breastfeeding?!?!?!!' He couldn't believe after three whole months, this tiny human still needed milk for nourishment."
17."I was called an overprotective mother by a childless aunt in law because I keep my kid home when he’s sick and I don’t take him to visit family or go places when he feels lousy."
18.“'Take your baby to nice restaurants as much as possible so they learn how to behave. Then they won’t need screens or toys.' Yes, it’s that easy...🙄."
What is the most irritating or out-of-touch unsolicited parenting advice or input you've received from someone? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.
