To feel anxiety-ridden by Joe Wick's new speech on parental anxiety?

[AllesAusLiebe]

Anyone else seen it on Instagram?

I only heard about this guy on here a few months ago and started listening to him, which I now regret!

Basically, he's created a 'helpful' video to respond to messages he's received from anxious parents in response to his numerous posts documenting his jetset lifestyle.

He claims that anxiety holds many people back from travelling with kids and eating out with kids and through that, you're missing out on 'making precious memories' (cringe). He claims that eating out with his young kids is great fun and they're not phased by sleeping in noisy bars(what?!) and restaurants because he and his wife have never enforced a routine and have been gleefully relaxed on their magical parenting journey.

He references being anxious about choking, jetlag and overseas diseases (all of which I'm guilty of) and dismisses these fears, too. They're actually very real fears, in my opinion. (Particularly having seen numerous people on my flight last week wearing face protection . . . !)

I only watched the damn video because I am an anxious parent with a son who has been tough going from day one and I thought it might help me chill a little. Instead, I'm feeling really conflicted. Part of me is pissed that this tool has made me feel lousy for not embracing some of the opportunities with my son that were available but part of me thinks it was a genuine attempt to help and I'm being too sensitive.

I'll try and link it if I can, if anyone is interested.

I have never heard of him and won't look at his profile. Why do you care OP? He's no more annoying than those perfect people whose children sleep through the night at 3 weeks old or are always top of their class (thanks to their parenting skills of course). My kids travel with us, have been to Asia and Africa and whilst it hasn't been super easy it wasn't a nightmare either. We don't have nannies either or help. They sleep in noisy places because they are used to, but it doesn't mean we have an easy parenting journey.

My eldest still wakes up in the night (2.5y) and we am still cosleeping with both, has horrible tantrums and is a selective eater.Thing is, I don't post parenting tips on Instagram for a living, so when people I know tell me what an easy child I have it makes my eyes roll. Nothing on social media is real and people won't just tell anyone how much they are struggling. He also has to make money somehow I suppose.

I haven't looked- he doesn't interest me. But I had no idea until I joined MN that people didn't take their children with them to meals out, on holiday etc. That's what I did because I saw no reason not to, but I'm not a twat, honest!

This is why I deleted Instagram. Its people selling to you in a preachy "I'm better than you" way and then normies start copying them. So many "advice" posts from my friends as new parents... Just get on with it!
It's a giant con and the thing with Instagram is, it pretends to just be lovely photos and sharing but it's all a shill. At least twitter isn't pretending to be nice. Ugh. Delete the app, honestly, you'll feel so much better.

@Sagradafamiliar you’re not a twat for taking your kids to places with you! If that worked for you then that’s great. You’d be a twat if you started saying the reason you were able to do so is because you’re more relaxed than other parents whose children don’t do very well out of their routine.

@Silenttype 🤣 it's funny because our lives with dc1 really didn't change that much as she slept everywhere, ate everything, think we had 2 tantrums in total, potty trained herself pretty much in a couple of days & learnt to ride a bike in 2 hrs, etc everything was easy! We'd go to family do's & aunts, uncles, older family friends would be like you do realise this isn't normal, it won't be the same with others, etc. DC2 came along & I was like right this is why people find babies hard! I really struggled & often felt out of my depth cause she's a sleep refuser & soo stubborn. Going from 1-2 was so much harder than 0-1 for me.

His life is so wildly different to most peoples what he does is irrelevant.

I do however agree that people need to relax a little more and do the things they enjoy with kids just expect a tantrum or 2 and don't go anywhere that is more stressful than not going

He's turning into a total arse. I prefer people like giovanna and tom fletcher who are real about life.

Thinking you have all of the answers when your first child isn’t even 2 years old makes you either a narcissist or an idiot.

FFS I had to laugh when I saw the video of him letting his daughter run noisily up and down the plane as his solution to getting through a long flight. Yeah let’s just make it unbearable for everyone else shall we?

I see that the youngest baby looks like he hasn’t read Joe’s perfect parenting manual yet.

It's utter bollocks. I always laugh at people with tiny babies or very young toddlers who claim their babies 'go with the glow' and take them to pub everywhere.

My dcs are teens now, but when they were younger they were the most unadaptable kids ever. When they were small we used to get invites to dinner Fatima friends who used to say
"oh just put them to sleep upstairs with our two. Babies sleep anywhere"
Well not my two. Both of them would only sleep in their own cot at a certain time. Neither of them would even sleep in our bed. Believe me, I wished they would at times!

We started eating out with them from a fairly young age, but never in loud bars or out late, always fairly child friendly places. Now as teens they still say Wagamama is one their 'happy places'.

I didn't enforce a routine on my two, they kind of did it themselves. Now 15 and 13 they're pretty chilled out kids (despite the normal teenage anxieties). We have a great relationship to be honest and I couldn't wish for more.

The thing is, all children are different. People like Joe Wicks who set themselves up as experts when they have 2 tiny fairly immobile children are just talking out of their arse.

Don't give him a second thought OP. He'll come a cropper at some point like all parents do.

Haven’t watched it but my favourite ever piece of parenting advice is “you can only parent the child you have”. It’s so true! I have four and they’re all different.

My first I could take to restaurants etc and she’d sit quietly or sleep, my second I couldn’t take anywhere because he’d cry non stop and even if I had been able to take him, my first was older and no longer at the stage of falling asleep anywhere and very much at the stage of needing to go to bed at roughly similar times each day so I couldn’t go out anyway . If we did go out, for example on holiday, we went out as early as possible so we could still get them to bed by 8/9ish. I wouldn’t want to take my baby or young child to a bar late at night anyway, not an environment I’d want to have them in.

Literally boggles my mind how he thinks his experience of parenting is relatable to the masses right now. I’d imagine parenting is much easier when you can afford cleaners, don’t have to worry about getting to nursery at 7am etc, spend a lot of time working from home and all the other luxuries having a lot of money brings.

Had to unfollow him when he starting spouting all that, ‘it’s important for baby to fit round you and not stop doing the things you’ve always done’ bullshit and his importance of ‘date nights’ with your partner. When in reality, yes, that’s the ideal- but you might end up with a baby like mine who still at 4 months literally cries all day so that just isn’t feasible. Life changes when you have kids, you accept that when you choose to have them.

Honestly, like most parents, DH and I muddle through the best we can. We know our kids best and know what they can/can't cope with (and indeed what makes us happy too).

We don't have the money for lots of long haul trips, and we would love to travel but will only do so when the children can remember it. If we had money to burn then we might well have travelled with them (if we felt they could travel without disturbing others).

We also have 2 very different children. It's not been until our youngest has started full time school that he's become much more transportable. They were also very different from when they were under 3 and over 3

he and his wife have never enforced a routine.

The moment I heard this, I would have stopped listening.

Joe Wick’s fifteen minutes of fame is well past its sell by date.

He has zero credibility with most people, because he doesn’t relate to most people’s lives. If he’s inducing anxiety, then he’s also dangerous.

Had he stuck to his short training session videos, that would have been fair enough, but he is new to parenting, naive, foolish and completely unaware of the reality of how most people have to live their lives.

making memories

his kids won't remember anything! mine have no recollection of our holidays until they are about 5.

hes the same with diet and exercise and food.his career started with lean in fifteen that should be all you need to know about where this bloke is going in his helpfullness to the masses!
i get the feeling hes one of those that love to pretend they are all humble and bashful at their success but if he was a rich git all along he be really judgmental and harsh to all not like him.

remember influencers especailly only show the front cover to the sotry with each new post they put out.look behind it and there is the rest of our lives.and hal the time they are also selling things.so will be pushing forward the people that sponser them.

he made me feel shit before he had a kid.then he was about food and fitness.then came the child and his new selling point and marketed her he did for his new role.

that sounds really cruel. and i really tyr not to be like that.becasue im probably just jealous as he really does seem to have it all sorted.and like many unfluencers who wouldnt make a million by sitting eating a biscuit on a pink duvet if they could!
but just for this post and purpose of the thread i shall let my mean person come out that feel belittled by him

ps he has a "wean in 15" book coming out!

he's just selling...

mute / block / delete the app OP to anything/anyone who makes you feel crap.

He just comes across as thick, no idea why people listen to him

I assume he’s some kind of celeb and not a childcare professional? You need to stop reading/watching the drivel these people come out with.
I think most parents are anxious at some point. It’s a hard (and sometimes scary) job that we all muddle through.

I watched 1 minute 30 of that video and gave up. I decided he can come back and tell me when he’s Got a couple of teenagers kicking off and sulking moodily at him.
This guy isn’t really in a position to give out advice anyway, he’s had to consult a nutritionist to help him with weaning.

Did anyone see the Wensleydale video?

metro.co.uk/video/joe-wicks-adamant-wensleydale-pronounced-wensley-dar-lay-1988414/

I have no idea who he is, but laughed out loud when I saw that his eldest child is 2.

Funny how his smug type never preach about parenting teens

I haven't ever seen him but I think parents should just decide these things for themselves. We never went away on holiday until I was 10 for example (even one night!). Then we went to Spain and it was a amazing - it really opened my eyes to other cultures and I am so glad our parents took us. I took my children when very young abroad as package holidays were cheaper than English ones and under 2 the baby is virtually free but not everyone wants to do that.

in our case getting them to bed so you can actually relax is a huge thing and a lot of British parents are like that. It is a very good plan and little children love routines - it gives them security.

Eating out and going abroad are expensive of course and lots of people don't do that at all.

I'm not going to watch the video, as I discovered some time ago that I cannot bear this smug little cunt.

I watched about the first 30 seconds of the video before beginning to strongly agree with this statement. Honestly, OP, look at his stupid fluorescent teeth, 'hello, nipples!' singlet and irksome hairdo -- before he opens his mouth, it's not hard to know exactly what kind of inane, narcissistic, self-regarding drivel is about to dribble out about his 'journey' with his offspring and how you can 'rewire' your thinking.

Thanks, Joe. Maybe leave the psychology to people with a higher IQ?

I traveled the world with my eldest, kindergartens in far flung countries, eating strange things in strange bistros, sat in bars late at night surrounded by native herdsmen.

My eldest is now a drug-fuelled thrill seeker with no sense of danger who constantly fills me with fear.

You do you and don't worry. He's an ass.

Everyone does what they think it's best for their family. We do not enforce a strict routine and that works for us. As long as it makes you happy why getting anxious over a stranger?