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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder why parents don’t take responsibility for their children’s behaviour?

105 replies

PPAPPINE · 03/09/2026 01:48

I have noticed that particularly with older children/ teens with behavioural issues, parents and adults in general seem to think the child is solely to blame and take very little responsibility of their own.
I don’t believe children become violent, aggressive or incredibly reckless for no reason. I believe it is usually due to trauma or neglect/ lack of positive attention even (or especially) in ND children.
It seems like most people genuinely believe that a child or young adult with behavioural issues like aggression/ defiance/ criminal or reckless behaviour has just become that way either of their own accord or due to outside influences or neurodiversity. When it’s often down to neglect and lack of support and love at home.

Arguably, lack of education around attachment and parenting is not always the fault of parents and I’m not sure why it’s not encouraged.
Of Course there are exceptions and other factors that play a part but it’s hard not to notice that it’s often the children who have unstable home lives, multiple younger siblings and no boundaries or routine.
This all seems so obvious to me. AIBU?

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 05/09/2026 19:57

funkystars123 · 05/09/2026 16:08

I used to think this was the case but I am now not sure… we are very informed parents, I am a learning disability nurse by training and having 3 ND kids have read and researched many many different therapies and approaches. My daughter had engaged with us and is thriving, my son has never wanted to engage with any help, therapy, medication or any type of intervention.

We are low demand- not no demand intentionality, and practices parent all our kids. However, he is not thriving at all… it may be that without our support things would be much worse. He does function in some ways- had friends, play football.

We were pretty skilled in supporting his regulation. We used diet, exercise, coregualation and many other techniques when he was younger but since he’s being 14/15 he hasn’t engaged in anything that helps. It's a tough road to learn that however much you know what someone needs,
It's only them that can actually make the change..

The older I get the more I think of nature rather than nurture is key and I think hes got a fairly tricky set of genetics that have lead to a really hard personality.

TBF the post you replied to was me replying to someone questioning a post suggesting that ND children "generally receive worse parenting" and was focused on one fairly generous interpretation of that original comment.

I do not think the wider issue of challenging behaviour is that simple, actually I wrote a different reply earlier than that challenging some of the simplistic ideas people have about how exactly they think parents should "take responsibility"

There are no easy answers unfortunately, you know if you've lived it. A lot of people have absolutely no idea. I'm sure you're right that your support has enabled your son to make progress he might have otherwise not been able to make.

funkystars123 · 05/09/2026 20:23

BertieBotts · 05/09/2026 19:57

TBF the post you replied to was me replying to someone questioning a post suggesting that ND children "generally receive worse parenting" and was focused on one fairly generous interpretation of that original comment.

I do not think the wider issue of challenging behaviour is that simple, actually I wrote a different reply earlier than that challenging some of the simplistic ideas people have about how exactly they think parents should "take responsibility"

There are no easy answers unfortunately, you know if you've lived it. A lot of people have absolutely no idea. I'm sure you're right that your support has enabled your son to make progress he might have otherwise not been able to make.

sorry if I was confused about what you were saying… I hope it’s made a difference but sadly it’s not enough so him at the moment and the future looks bleak… he actually responds well to lots of things such as exercise, diet and meds but will do none of it and actively refuses it…

he’s only 20 and maybe by the time he’s older it might get easier but I feel as he gets older he gets more rigid and both my brother and father were very rigid in their 20’s onwards, they have both mellowed a little but it’s not easy for them or those around them and both had luck work wise and have been financially able to support themselves. My son won’t be able to do that and so unless he works he will lead a very tough life.

It’s certainly not what I thought would be his future- he’s the brightest of all my kids, quick, funny and can be very charming. But he currently won’t even do a days labouring, had no qualifications and smokes weed every day.

It just makes me so sad and angry when people think this is because of bad parenting. We currently have very limited parenting choices available to us as we know we will
never ask him to leave home. There are therefore really no consequences we can put in place that have any meaning. It’s a pretty impossible situation but certainly not one where we have not tried to do everything we can!

Betterbeingdead · 05/09/2026 20:39

thisist · 03/09/2026 07:40

Nobody would understand unless they’ve been there. I have 2 children who truly have been raised the same. I appreciate birth order matters, but same home, same schooling, same parents, same circumstances. I can’t even describe how different they are. One is neurodivergent, and this one has extremely different (socially unacceptable) behaviour, which will undoubtedly be attributed to bad parenting by anyone she meets who is not a member of our family. The other child shines in everything he does, has the most amazing manners and social skills and we are frequently praised on how he is a credit to us and what great parents we must be…by people who haven’t met his sibling. It can’t work both ways can it!

Gabor Mate did an incredible talk where he explained that we are born with 400 genetic traits, some of which can be extremely negative. Things like high sensitivity which renders people susceptible to extreme anxiety, anger, depression. An inability to regulate emotion etc. He stated that yes, of course nurture is important, but too much emphasis is placed on praising parents whose children are great, and criticising parents whose children are not. That has certainly been my experience.

Also, if we’re going to go down that route can we place as much blame on fathers? Everything always seems to be mum’s fault but it’s clear as day that outcomes for teen boys can be worse if they have no father present, if the mum doesn’t cope well managing everything on her own. Yet mum still gets the blame!

Also modern life - surely we can attribute some blame for outcomes on the internet and what people are exposed to. And all the other stresses of modern life, which damage families.
It’s a completely complex situation.

Snap this is us ! And no he didn't come out all right the other side and no he wasn't abused as another pp suggested

Ponoka7 · 05/09/2026 21:36

T3Tim3 · 05/09/2026 19:32

I work with ND , have ND children myself and ND nephews and nieces- I have never experienced this.

Which shows it's parenting and not ND. Those children are heading for real issues and in the case of boys, the justice system.

ChalkOutlines · 05/09/2026 21:47

T3Tim3 · 05/09/2026 19:32

I work with ND , have ND children myself and ND nephews and nieces- I have never experienced this.

I call BS.

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