to ask what's the popular Mumsnet advice you think is bollocks? [edit: lighthearted added at OP's request]

[CoolToned]

Game.

I like the advice urging women to work ft in case their husband runs off with another women and so that she can manage on her own financially.

Even those who work ft don't have masses of spare cash when you take into account bills, mortgage, cars. Some people need the double income if they live in an expensive area and will still find it hard striking out on their own

Being average or slightly less than average doesn't mean something is wrong.

50% of people in the country are below average intelligence........

It's not advice per se but I really disagree with the way that a husband leaving his wife is seen as him being a bad father in a way that a wife leaving her husband is in no way seen as her being a bad mother. In fact, in general, it is assumed that marital breakdown is all the fault of the man all the time. I think it's only in very exceptional cases that there isn't fault on both sides.

Of course, sometimes men leaving their wives are also bad fathers but I don't think men have to stay indefinitely in unhappy marriages because otherwise they are abandoning their children - it is possible for divorced men to continue to be good parents.

On a related note, men are expected to contribute - usually equally - to the costs of step-children but any suggestion that a woman contribute anything to the costs of her step-children is met with horror.

I bloody hate the unmumsnetty hug

Yes, I've never understood why a hug is unmumsnetty. It might be an encouraging, back-patting, 'chin up' kind of hug, rather than the emotional, tear-stained ones that huns give, but a hug, nontheless!

• nonetheless!

A great deal of this advice boils down to one half of Mumsnet having trouble envisaging a situation where the other half simply do not have the disposable income for the suggestions they make. This is very telling.

Hmmmnotkeen
I expect there have been thousands of comments on learning to drive vs not needing to drive in the history of Mumsnet, but I still think learning to drive if you can is good advice. You could argue that people don't NEED to be able to do almost anything in modern life. You don't need to be online, you don't need to cook, you don't need to save money, you don't need to have a job, you don't need to do a whole host of things. Learning to drive is a good idea.

OP's child has come crying because the they had the crap kicked out of them in the playground/the teacher called them fucking stupid/wasn't allowed to go to the toilet so wet themselves etc

'Just have a gentle word with the teacher, you don't want to be 'that' parent.'

CandODad

Why the fuck should a woman who has just given birth need to take on the job of educating a man about how to cater for his own family when they come to visit for the day? Why just why is that her job and why does he not know how to do it? He does indeed sound utterly useless.

Learning to drive is very useful in every day life (so glad mum DM paid for my lessons when I was 17) there's no denying that, but it is also very expensive and not affordable for everyone.

*my DM not mum dm

"They all get there in the end"

A great deal of this advice boils down to one half of Mumsnet having trouble envisaging a situation where the other half simply do not have the disposable income for the suggestions they make. This is very telling.

^^Very true

50% of the people in the Country are below average intelligence
In 2008 the working population was around 38 million
Were they all given an IQ test to arrive at this figure?
Who tested 38 million people
Which bright spark worked the average out?
What is average intelligence? Who sets the bar for it?
Common sense sometimes does not prevail in studies or 1000 people surveyed.and of course those 1000 people are representative of the population

And I'm being a Mumsnet arse

PortiaCastis

By definition, 100 IQ is the average or 50% centile (not sure which exactly but they'll be close) for IQ test results in a population (taken from a sample).

So, it's perfectly reasonable and accurate to say that 50% of people in a population are below 100 IQ.

50% of the people in the Country are below average intelligence

Regardless, this statement is always accurate (unless the average and the median are very different because the distribution is skewed, but it seems that it follows the Normal distribution, so they'll be very similar).

And regardless of the test applied.

I really disagree with the way that a husband leaving his wife is seen as him being a bad father in a way that a wife leaving her husband is in no way seen as her being a bad mother.

In most cases, the husband who leaves and is considered a bad father didn't keep in touch for periods, simply walked out instead of arranging childcare with the mother.
Mothers who do the same are also bad mothers.
But most mothers take their children when they walk out on the husband. And may be bad mothers if they keep them from contact without a good reason.

You don't even need to test anyone. No one said what the average is, just that 50% will always be below it.

50% of people will always be below average, that is what average is.
The average is defined and being the very middle, whatever the middle is.

Which is why it was so laughable when Gove (fucking cunting bellend) said that he wanted to make all schools above average.

Depends which average you are talking about.

Median - yes Mean - only if it is a normal distribution

Bell curve?

Said I was being an arse but here's what wiki says

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average

This one.

I have to agree about Gove !!

'Head tilt.'

This, so much this.

Usually accompanied with some 20/20 hindsight rambling patronising not as smart as she thinks it is retort on what the OP should have said during her earlier AIBU altercation. I can only envision someone who spoke to some stranger in the street in that fashion would get a slap in the face for their efforts!