to resent getting parenting advice from mumsnetters who are not actually mums?

[sweetuphoria]

Ok preparing myself for a barage of abuse here, this is something that annoys me in RL as well as Mumsnet...

Those people who are very forceful in their opinion about how to raise a child when they have none of their own. I mean I will admit I thought I knew kids until I had one of my own and then I realised how completely different it is looking after someone else's to having your own 24/7. Sorry but those without kids have NO IDEA!

creighton, thanks but I pay enough taxes to cover my own child benefit.

I pay top dollar for my childcare.

I don't expect attention from childless people why would I or anyone else?

2BoysTooLoud, I had the opposite experience being relatively young to have my first child who is now 10. All my friends didn't have kids and had no understanding of what I was going through.

I found that quite hard to deal with until I made some new friends who were Mums too. Then I felt I had people who understood me and my life now as a Mum.

Perhaps that's why I feel strongly that you have to have been there to really understand when it comes to being a Mum. But obviously there are exceptions, like people who work in childcare, teaching etc.

FrameyMcFrame, there was a thread last week where people were arguing that parents should be paid by the state to stay at home with their children thus doing society a favour at other people's expense. This would no doubt be paid for by people like me who will be expected to work until they are 70 to cover these extra costs and don't say that your children will be keeping me in my old age, you know they won't. I'll still be paying my way until the day I die.

There are also lots of threads by mums (without a capital 'm') whining that their in-laws/sisters/brothers etc don't come to visit (pay homage) to their children or don't send presents of the right value on birthdays, Christmas etc. You personally may not expect anything from childless/other people but lots of you mums do.

See, in my view, most people wouldn't expect to find posters who are actively hostile towards mums - or indeed their children - on a parenting website.

It does mean that some of the advice offered on threads is from people who feel that kind of hostility.

i don't think that most posters are actively hostile to parents - and they are certainly not hostile to children. What is tiresome is the feeling here that people without children are to be disregarded when convenient and that only people with exactly the same life experiences as the parent can have a valid opinion. I know my limitations, so I don't pontificate or expect people to take my advice. My friends would know that anything I say to them (if I am prompted) is out of interest or concern. So many people on this site think it is okay to drop friends because they have a baby and the friends do not. It is as if you can only mix with your own kind and there is no need to compromise or work with people who are different.