To make want to be parents take an exam...

[ShakeRattleNRoll]

.. to make sure they are fit to look after and bring up children? It seems like there are so many parents out there who don't even know how to look after themselves let alone children. What does everybody think about this? I'm not exactly sure but I think it is worth discussing and it annoys me that people just have babies willy nilly without much thought/money and trying to bring them up in such a difficult world of today.

Just wannabe parents? What about the ones who haven't even got as far as wanting to be parents before they get pregnant?

Anybody who wants a baby really

China only allow 1 child per family

There are lots of parenting choices I think are shit.

CIO
CC
Choosing to use formula

What kind of things were you thinking of putting in this exam?

So what makes you think you can judge who is a 'good' parent? What criteria would they have to meet? How much money is the right amount? Yabu

Eh? What's with the china fact?

What happens if someone is unexpectedly pregnant and fails the exam?

What would the exam cover? I've been doing this parenting lark for 12 years and am still constantly surprised and adapting and having to deal with situations differently for each of my children.

It would never work.

Exam question no 1. Are you considering buying of those shitty headbands for your baby?
Question no 2. Do you own any items with 'mummy's princess' written on them?

Instant ban.

I'm rubbish at exams
I might not be the worlds best parent but I'm a much better parent than I am exam taker
I think there is a test you take to show if you're a good parent. It's an ongoing one though and I'm not quite sure when you get your results

What if they fail the exam? Should they be shot?

I'm not sure about the ins and outs but I know for sure that baby Ps mother should never have been allowed to have a baby.I'm not entirely sure about the ins and outs but I thought it's worth discussing.China only allow 1 child per family to keep the population down.david Attenborough says we are going to run out of food at this rate with all the people in the world.Maybe it will happen one day .I'm sure there must be good arguments for and against .I think too many people have kids for the wrong reasons.

In a word, no, YANBU. As adoptive parents, my DW and I had to go through loads of hoops (aka exams) to make sure we were appropriately 'qualified'.

I'm all for similar tests (financial, emotional, experiential, motivational etc.) to be introduced as you only have to watch a single episode of Jeremy Kyle to hear 'I were only wiv 'im for a week, now I'm pregnant'.......

So now it's a population thing?

Are you being a goady f?

I take it then that you would also want any potential parent (which would mean the whole human race really) to be fully CRB checked too?

Mad idea.

For the record, I dislike exams, though have had to take plenty in my life. I also chose (shock, horror) to use formula right from the word go. I was no pink and fluffy Blue Peter mum. Somehow I have successfully brought up my three daughters.

Hmmmm...difficult to design an exam that gets at the issues that really matter:

are you intending, in three or four years time to take up with a bloke who beats you or abuses your child?

do you intend to lose your job or develop a medical condition which means you can't afford to pay your rent?

if you lose your job, do you intend to sink into depression and start drinking?

do you intend to project all your ambitions on your child and make them feel a failure if they do not live up to them?

do you intend to lose your temper and lash out when you have been stuck in the house for 3 days with a whiny 3yo?

What an exam would do would be to fail a lot of people who would make perfectly reasonable parents but don't happen to fit the ideas of the HVs on minor issues such as co-sleeping or time out or spoon feeding versus BLW. It would almost certainly favour middle class white British families over working class families and ethnic minorities.

I remember patiently explaining to my HV that whether you allow your child into your bed or not is a cultural issue, not a matter of scientific evidence.

lol RadBrown

But what happens if you fail the test but are pregnant? Forced abortion? forced adoption before you've had a chance to prove themselves?
Or pieple who fail the test before falling pregnant, forced sterilisation?

FWIW, I've made some pretty big fuck ups as a mum. I have had ss involved in the past, (although for fairly 'minor' things in the grand scheme) but I bet I could pass a parenting test!

I am not goading here . It's just an adult discussion about bringing new people into the world and that includes population control imo

What do parenting exams have to do with population control?

Ah, it's a class question, is it?

OP, do you remember that bit in A Christmas Carol when the Ghost of Christmas Present rages at the thought of the insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brethren in the dust? That's how you come across.

Or to put it in Dickens' words: Forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is and Where it is.

Sounds like good advice to me.

At least the one child rule in China (which has led to the frequent abandonment and probably even murder of children) is not exam based: it's the same rule for everybody (apart from ethnic minorities).

Maybe the ones who are not allowed a child and have had a child must have to give it away to a capable parent who can bring up a child in a decent enviroment. It's obvious it won't work and it won't be implemented into our laws but it is worth discussing to understand why it would not be acceptable.I'm not saying definetly bring in this law but I just wanted to hear peoples views on it ,So please stop having a pop at me TYIA

I just wonder, as someone's already mentioned, what happens if you 'fail'? Forced sterilisation? Baby taken into care? Even if you 'passed', babies are brought up by humans, not machines.

I get sentiment but the idea us full of holes.

If you fail your driving test, you just take it again until you are deemed a safe risk - would you only get one shot at the parenting test? Or could you just keep trying til you passed?

I would much prefer if people could access their local parenting courses and support groups without the fear of being labelled a "bad" parent. I wish we could applaud parents who have the courage to look for extra support, information and ideas - instead of all the smug judging that goes on from people who would never dream of getting outside support (and as a result never learn anything new even if they need to).

You want children to be taken from their parents on the basis of whether the parent can pass an exam or not?