What parenting things do other people do that you absolutely refuse to do?

[FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop]

I never bake my kids' birthday cakes. I can buy a very good supermarket one or pay someone to produce something that looks better than what I can do and has cost me less.

I won't do role playing with them. There are no scarier words than "mummy will you play with me - you be the dog and I'll be the owner". I apparently do it ALL WRONG anyway, I usually say something like "instead, why don't we do some painting" or I even say I'm busy. And I thank God every day the days of playing tea parties are over. Me perched on a very uncomfortable toadstool seat pretending to sip tea from a singing Fisher Price teacup for 2 hours and doing it wrong anyway 😂

Sleep train

Babying children. Seems to be a very British thing.

Gentle parenting. Don’t really get it. Just seems more like lazy parenting.

Having separate “adult” and “children’s” food ideas.

Allow my children to speak to me the way some is my friends children speak to them.

About the earplugs thing: one of my DHs friend’s regularly put their baby to sleep in the downstairs utility room while they slept upstairs, as they were didn’t want to be woken by crying…

Oh, I'm on a roll now ... she (and her sister) frequently mock our 'first aid' set up when they were children ... out of date calpol, two plasters and a couple of safety pins. They remember going to friend's houses who had proper cupboards which looked like a Boots counter.

My mum was like that. Still is. I hope you have changed your ways.

My mum had a fall in her garden last year and sustained a deep cut on her shin which developed into an infection because all she did to it was rinse it off with soap and water. She required antibiotics and sterile bandaging applied by a nurse before the saga was over.

So many - and I’ve only read one page so far!

Disney
Board / card games - i do it but frankly my kids can tell I’m faking au enjoyment. I quite like the evil games like Exploding Kittens and Monopoly Deal with new victims.
Day trips. Hate them.
Offer crudités as a snack, especially at a party.
Anything «magical». - Christmas elfs, Fairy dust, fairy doors in little trees etc. 🙄

I didn't teach that Santa Claus is real though told about the stories and legends and how it can be fun to pretend.

[quote BigSandyBalls2015]@BertieBotts my DDs are 20 and that would have been shocking even then![/quote]
Mine born 30 and 33 years ago and it would have been equally shocking back then but I wouldn't have done it anyway, can't even imagine it.

I was also horrified by how some wet parents allowed their primary aged kids to talk to them. People I thought were like minded - intelligent adults allowed their kids to talk to them like shit on their show. Really sad. Zero respect. All so they could be lovey dovey with their children all the time. It doesn’t do the children any favours either.

After the past year we have had and the death of my father and lots of other totally shite things I will do anything to make sure my daughter is happy and feels loved. So if she wants a cake, she will get a cake, elf on the shelf - yep it takes 1 min an evening, want me to sleep in a tent in the garden, I will cos your mine, I'm yours and I want you to smile always x If that makes me a panderer then label me all you want. My child. My choice x

Our DC had strict bedtimes, and never slept in our bed. Ever.
We had a no screen rule after tea time.
Never cooked childrens meals, they ate a normal diet.
We didn't do after school activities in the week, who wants an over tired child and to spend hours in the car...... will never understand that one.

...I want you to smile always

I feel this might be quite a burden on a child.

@mathanxiety

...I want you to smile always

I feel this might be quite a burden on a child.

Luckily I'm not needing your validation

No, you’re just expecting it from your child...

@MsTSwift

I was also horrified by how some wet parents allowed their primary aged kids to talk to them. People I thought were like minded - intelligent adults allowed their kids to talk to them like shit on their show. Really sad. Zero respect. All so they could be lovey dovey with their children all the time. It doesn’t do the children any favours either.

By 'show' I take it to mean a reality TV programme. They are far from real, controversy makes good TV and participants are told to heat things up a bit, have rows, be rude. I hate shows like that.

Who on earth tells their child to smile all the time? I don't get that at all. Encourage children not to be fake! As they mature they will learn naturally that you don't inflict your down times on others willy nilly but constantly pasting on an artificial smile when you are a child is quite horrible. Nobody likes a phoney.

This! Why would anyone want to eat a gross supermarket cheaply made birthday cake 🤢*
Homemade cakes are so easy to make and absolutely delicious.*

Maybe we don't all have time and the inclination to make our own cakes, maybe we can't and are hopeless bakers, absolutely nothing wrong with supermarket cakes !!

absolutely nothing wrong with supermarket cakes

As someone wh can knock out a pretty decent home baked sponge I disagree. However, I do have the time and the experience, and appreciate that not everyone does.

Last week's effort. My decorating skills could be better though.

There is no way I am baking in these temperatures. If anyone in this house wants cake (and I don't) they know where the shops are.

@Hardbackwriter

I refuse to believe that babies have any need for, or derive any specific from, activities that are designed to be 'sensory'. The whole world is a sensory experience if you've only been in it a few months. I have no problem with those classes as a way for mums to get out of the house and meet each other but I hate the way they're marketed as some sort of essential experience. It's not like if you don't take them to a sensory class they never learn to see in colour or to feel texture!

I agree with that it seems a weird thing to do.

Sensory classes and toys were for children with learning difficulties/ cerebral palsy.

As a trainee solicitor I did a seat in clinical negligence and we used to claim for sensory classes as part of hypoxic brain injury claim.

I don't know the best term to use but entirely healthy children and babies surely don't need senses stimulating as they all work fine.

So if she wants a cake, she will get a cake

Food isn't love....nor is childhood obesity....just saying

It's a lazy way to parent and isn't in the best interests of the child to give then everything they want, you need to think about how you're preparing them for adulthood, not just instant gratification for them and validation for you.

I don't understand the cake hang up. Does anyone really care whether the cake is homemade or bought? Surely life is too short for that level of triviality

I tell you who definitely doesn’t care if the cake is homemade or shop bought - children. If someone likes baking and has the time and inclination, great, crack on, but if they think that makes them a better parent than someone who cracks out a Colin caterpillar that’s a bit sad.

I don't care about the cakes. Im not a particularly skilled Baker. Colin the caterpillar all the way 🐛

I don't think I am a better parent @RobinPenguins. I enjoy baking, and have time to do it.

When DD was little she went to a lot of parties where the cake would have been a supermarket Barbie/Scooby Doo/other character cake, and quite frankly they were awful. Even DD wouldn't eat them.

M and S make lovely cakes, and I wouldn't object to a Colin the Caterpillar cake