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 😂

@Waveafterwaveslowlydrifting

Never rocked them to sleep, fed them to sleep, coslept, satcwith them till they were asleep, etc.

Bath, story, cuddle, night night, shut the door.

You're definitely me! My two never slept in our room, I was amazed that with grandchild 1 they sat there until she was fast asleep, often 4+ hours! When I babysat she was put into her cot, having had the usual bath, story, cuddling, and she was usually asleep with five minutes.

Little children “childcare” via technology ie putting screens in front child but mum and dad doing other things leaving the child to it!

This is not childcare but more lazy neglect. All of us survived without such technology protecting growing children eyesight away from blue light and playing and exploring the real world in the garden or park with nature and fresh air or with physical toys indoors. Hence why Finnish style private forest schools have been a thing in hot demand for early years.

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

Little children “childcare” via technology ie putting screens in front child but mum and dad doing other things leaving the child to it!

This is not childcare but more lazy neglect. All of us survived without such technology protecting growing children eyesight away from blue light and playing and exploring the real world in the garden or park with nature and fresh air or with physical toys indoors. Hence why Finnish style private forest schools have been a thing in hot demand for early years.

Used to agree with you but this was the only way that we have got through lockdown and various bubble closures with two parents working full time

Chasing pigeons, I hate to see children doing that

I refused to pay them to get top grades in GCSE/A levels. £150 for A,. £100 for B etc.

I never did plastic loot bags of tat at their birthday parties. I did a big un-pc bar of chocolate.

I didn't let them have 18 rated video games when they were only 9.

Of course I was the only parent in town to refuse these things

Tooth fairy
Easter bunny (my kids would never believe)
Sleep overs (I don’t like other people’s kids)
After school clubs

Play with play doh. God I hate the stuff it makes me want to vomit. That's his grandmother's job!

Before nursery follow a routine. Since being in nursery he naturally fell into a routine. Ds slept in my bed for years

Elf on a shelf

We have baked a few cakes together they were never nice. Birthday cakes are from a shop

If ds doesn’t want to eat something that’s fine I won’t let him go hungry there is always something else to eat or toast

I never did tummy time with my kids. Why is this now suddenly a thing? I'm sure it wasn't a thing 10+ years ago and we can all hold our heads up ok?!

I never tell my kids not to climb up the slide. Although to some people here that's akin a telling your child how to murder a kitten.

@GreenLeafTurnip

Play with play doh. God I hate the stuff it makes me want to vomit. That's his grandmother's job!

Vomiting or play-doh?

Ok so little one is only 9 months (and I'm sure there's plenty I will cave on over time) but I've never put baby TV on for them so I can get stuff done, that's what nap time is for. I always get looked at like I have two heads when people ask what their favourite show is and I say they doesn't have one because they don't watch it . Never co slept and won't unless we get a ridiculous sized bed because me and partner both like to take up as much space as possible. Never considered what someone else might think of a parenting decision I've made (what works for one child and all that). And not begging, pleading or bargaining for them to eat "just one more mouthful of veg", it didn't work for me, my diet is shit as an adult because I was encouraged to eat things I didn't like and it made me go the complete opposite way when I got free reign.

Gaming , I refuse to play xbox or any other gaming thing. I also refuse to play pokemon card game. Thankfully they rarely ask. I will also refuse to teach them to drive when older, someone can be paid to do it.

Decorating a nursery when they're not here yet. Sleep training. Forcing them to eat more food.

YY to tummy time

My eldest is 9 and I used to fret like mad about her getting enough tummy time. IIRC the recommendation was 30 minutes per day. She absolutely hated it and used to scream her head off. I bought all manner of contraptions to help her, spent a fortune.

By some miracle she managed to crawl, walk and stay upwards. I don't know many 9yo's who spend their lives flat on the floor on their backs because they didn't get enough tummy time

No to sharing a bed- only happened once because of illness in 12 years.
No to leaving them with a nursery or childminder. Would never do it.
No to fortnight
No to loads of sweets
No to fizzy drinks except special occasions
No to ear piercing before 11 years
No to swearing of an kind
No to giving in after you have made a rule or set a punishment / consequence
No to pandering to tantrums.
No to speaking to me in a rude manner.

No to ever buying a shop bought birthday cake.
Yes to making a special homemade cake of their choosing every year. Made dozens of so many characters and themes. It’s so special

I never did tummy time with my kids. Why is this now suddenly a thing? I'm sure it wasn't a thing 10+ years ago and we can all hold our heads up ok?!

I think it became a thing after the back to sleep campaign because more babies were getting flat heads and front sleepers develop physically a bit more quickly than back sleepers - which doesn't actually matter, because the back sleepers catch up by the time they walk, but I think that's why people felt they needed to do something about all these babies spending all their time on their back. Whether tummy time actually makes any difference I don't know.

I didn't go cycling with my children.

Rarely went swimming with them except on holiday.

pinatastick
Listen to nursery rhymes in the car. Nope, my car my music thank you!

God yes. I swore I would never do it before I had kids and it's one of the few things I stuck to!

@SmidgenofaPigeon

When I work late, I’ll not sit on the end of the bed of my charges and listen to a blow by blow account of their day, or answer questions like what is your top favourite ant and why, or let’s plan my 8th birthday party even though I’m only 5, or ‘I’m scared of moths’. I’m well aware it’s not a special bonding time where all their cute little worries come out but a way to mug me off and delay bedtime 😂

I generally say ‘look it up in your head and I’ll see you tomorrow, night!’

Oh my god, 3 children in and I'm still a sucker for this one 🤦🏽‍♀️

I'll never be the one with them being massively scheduled, not because I'm a cool mum, but because I'm single and work full time, I feel sad sometimes but hope that as they get older they will be resilient and appreciate being brought up financially stable.

Also, no blinking slime, nor Peppa Pig.

Could never be arsed with a baby routine, just went with the flow. Never did sleep training, still don’t know what it actually is.

@Hardbackwriter

I never did tummy time with my kids. Why is this now suddenly a thing? I'm sure it wasn't a thing 10+ years ago and we can all hold our heads up ok?!

I think it became a thing after the back to sleep campaign because more babies were getting flat heads and front sleepers develop physically a bit more quickly than back sleepers - which doesn't actually matter, because the back sleepers catch up by the time they walk, but I think that's why people felt they needed to do something about all these babies spending all their time on their back. Whether tummy time actually makes any difference I don't know.

Ah that's interesting. It makes sense.

Let them play on a phone or iPad
Buy shop bought cakes- nasty no thanks

Hardback we never had tummy time when my kids were babies, at least it wasn't a formal requirement but I expect most parents did some form of it quite naturally. Some things don't need a name, especially not something as twee as 'tummy time'. I'd never heard of it before looking on here.

Never did baby swimming lessons or baby sensory classes.

Totally with you OP on the homemade cakes. It was actually a real shock to me that people made birthday cakes. I grew up with shop bought cakes and I think they taste just as good 🤷‍♀️

I have never bought either child their own iPad/tablet. I have nothing against it, but it genuinely never occurred to me to do it and now we've got this far I don't want to go down that route.