I’ve only been a parent for a short amount of time but it hasn’t taken me long to decide the following: Old school parents are the worst.
“Old
school parents” are any parents who have been parenting longer than
you have and think they have the right and social responsibility to
drown you in unwanted parenting advice. Their advice always heavily
implies that you’re only having problems simply because you’re
doing it wrong. The way to
solve all of your problems is to simply listen to the sage
wisdom they are always bestowing upon you without being asked.
Old
school parents love to ask you about your parenting problems. They
don't care about your parenting problems, but they do want to
hear them so they can top them with their own glorious tales of
parent derring-do.
Old
school parent: “So are you having any problems with Junior?”
Me:
“Well he's really fussy and wakes up a lot in the night.”
Old
school parent: “Ha! Try having three kids in diapers, two in
elementary school, three in junior high, three in high school, two in
college and one living in your basement playing World of Warcraft all
day and mooching all your money. Now that's tough!”
Me:
“Wait, so you have, like, 14 kids? I thought you had two.”
Old
school parent: “How dare you question me, Mr. One
Child!”
But
even worse than old school parents are non-parents. I need parenting
advice from people who have never been parents like I need a black
market colonoscopy that is performed in a dark alley. First and
foremost, the advice is useless, and second, it's insulting. Someone who has
never had children giving advice to someone who has children is as
absurd as me trying to give advice to a racehorse on how he might win
the Kentucky Derby.
It
pains me to say it but I fear that in the past when I had no kids I
may have given out unsolicited, useless parenting advice. I
apologize, and knowing what I know now I want to go back in time and beat my past
self with a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting.
If
you ever find yourself starting a sentence like this, “I don't have
any kids of my own but I think you should...” stop talking
immediately.
What do you say to politely tell people you don't really need their opinion on your child? Leave a comment if you please.
What do you say to politely tell people you don't really need their opinion on your child? Leave a comment if you please.
7 comments:
How annoying! I don't look forward to the unsolicited advice! I already get told all the time about the joys of pregnancy (and how easy it should be)by people who have never been (or even tried to be) pregnant...so parenting tips should be so much fun!
I think people believe that if there are "problems" or challenges for someone, it must be something they're doing wrong when in fact, we can't control everything! It's just lovely being told it's your fault when you're just doing your best!
I would tell people I'm teaching my child to mind his own business haha.
I think I would put kidney stones below prostate exam, but to each his own.
@Kez-Yeah, it only gets worse. People mean well, but they still suck.
@Anonymous-Yeah, methinks I made that list a little hastily.
Unfortunately, I think I've done this a couple times. Usually, I'm just trying to make someone feel better though. This parenting thing is hard! But I generally try to only give advice if I'm asked for it. I've received plenty of unsolicited advice myself...guess I need to keep my mouth in check in the future! Sorry to you or anyone else I might have given unsolicited advice to!!
@Katrina-Don't worry, I've never received unsolicited parenting advice from you. I know because I keep a mental list of people who I have received advice from so I can make a conscious effort to avoid them.
Jacob! Why didn't you post ont the 23rd?
@Sasquatch-Just did. Sorry, it takes me a while sometimes.
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