Do we hear too much about only the good bits or parenting or only the bad?

[Echobelly]

Probably opening a can of worms.... but I notice you see people saying 'Why do people/the media only talk about the good bits of parenting and never about the negative side?' but it seems to me about an equal number of people saying 'Why do people/the media only talk about the bad sides of parenting but never the good bits?' - which makes me think actually these days we do hear a pretty good balance of stuff about it.

I think there's much less taboo than say, 20 years ago, in talking about the bad bits, which is good and healthy but I think plenty of people still talk about the good parts as well. Maybe it's a glass half full/half empty thing and people feel they hear more of the opposite of their situation.

I think it’s fairly balanced. Parenting is never just one thing. It’s lovely and joyful and fun but also gruelling and a bit shit sometimes.

I think it’s balanced overall. Everything depends on people’s algorithms these days. A lot of people 100% negative and bang on about how bad parenting is, how everyone says it’s terrible, how you only ever hear about how bad it is. Ditto for the positive people. It’s self-perpetuating.

Everyone has to pick a side and define themselves these days across the board. But I think overall it’s about 50/50.

I think Instagram is overly "positive". Like the kids have spotless bedrooms, smiling, having fun etc.

Reality isn't that way!

I suppose I've never been much on 'influencer' social media so I've never seen people play up the perfect family life thing.

I think a lot of people get a bit of a shock when they become parents and they say things like "why did nobody ever tell me it was going to be like this...". The truth is everyone sees people with kids, they see the joys and the struggles, they remember their own childhoods, they watch tv and movies... but they refuse to properly absorb it and think somehow it will be completely different when it's them. It's like a mechanism the human brain has, without it the race would have died out a long time ago. It doesn't matter whether people talk about the good side, or the shit side, no one fucking listens 🤷‍♀️ it's white noise along with "I was your age once you know" and "you think you know it all but you don't ".

Well most people don't talk about things when they're going well/are good! So yeah we are likely to hear the negatives moreso!