I'm sorry MN but - to laugh at this?

[BertieBotts]

Just noticed this pinned thread:

How to get a good night's sleep

All the tips are :o :o :o if you have children. Which, er... not sure if anyone has noticed, but...?

AIBU to think this is a totally bizarre choice for a parenting website?

Autistic teens still keep you awake at night.

I clearly forgot why I don't bother with AIBU :o

Mumsnet isn't just for mums 🤷‍♀️ I'm here for the infertility groups so definitely no kids here. If the advice isn't for you then ignore it?

I have dc and I don't see anything wrong with those tips. Mine are teens, but I never co-slept. Getting up to settle or feed a baby isn't necessarily incompatible with any of the tips, and that stage is in any case not very long, so the majority of MNers probably aren't currently going through it.

Omg this thread!!

I used mumsnet for years prior to having kids but I mean, the clue’s in the name, it’s primarily a parenting website. I wouldn’t go to the piston heads site and then accuse them of superiority cos they’re all boasting about their cars when I take the bus.

Anyway, @BertieBotts I completely agree with you, every time it pops up I slightly roll my eyes at the fact that with very young children there are very limited things you can do to improve sleep!

It would be like MN running a blog on “keeping your house pristine” or “keeping your body like it was when it was 18”. The very first tip would be “don’t have kids!”

Originally mumsnet was only meant for parents but has expanded over the years.

This is what wiki says
Mumsnet was created by Justine Roberts in 2000, who came up with the idea of a website to help parents pool information and advice, following a disastrous first family holiday with her one-year-old twins. Once back in the UK, Roberts persuaded friends Carrie Longton and Steven Cassidy to help her build the site.

Maybe they should have a separate Top Tips list for parents of young children. I can’t think what would be on it other than “go and sleep in a hotel overnight”, but my brain’s a bit sleep deprived at present…

I know that mumsnet isn't just for mums

But it's kind of a popular demographic.

Are you saying that parents can’t reduce stress but it would be a decent tip for those without kids?
Sorry, I forgot parents have the monopoly on stress (and hardship and lack of sleep 🙄)
Glad you got your arse handed to you OP - it was a daft post. But isn’t that they fun of AIBU

@Burnamer

Are you saying that parents can’t reduce stress but it would be a decent tip for those without kids? Sorry, I forgot parents have the monopoly on stress (and hardship and lack of sleep 🙄) Glad you got your arse handed to you OP - it was a daft post. But isn’t that they fun of AIBU

Or…. She’s perhaps making a reference to the well-known fact that young children tend to wake you up a lot? Might it actually be that simple?

Fucking hell people are touchy. Go and have a lie down.

It’s not an article, it’s an advert

Are you saying that parents can’t reduce stress but it would be a decent tip for those without kids?
Sorry, I forgot parents have the monopoly on stress (and hardship and lack of sleep 🙄)

Absolutely no one has suggested this except you.

@Burnamer

Are you saying that parents can’t reduce stress but it would be a decent tip for those without kids? Sorry, I forgot parents have the monopoly on stress (and hardship and lack of sleep 🙄) Glad you got your arse handed to you OP - it was a daft post. But isn’t that they fun of AIBU

She literally just says “All the tips are if you have children.” Nothing about a monopoly or, as other posters have had it, a superiority complex. She’s a sleep-deprived parent thinking sleep tips are a bit wasted on a large chunk of the audience here, and made a clearly lighthearted thread about it. But apparently it’s stick-up-yer-bum day on AIBU.

It would be a perfectly reasonable post if a large majority of MNers were parents of babies, but that's obviously not the case!

@stuntbubbles

Funny how all the childless people getting good sleep are also joylessly sucking the lighthearted out of your thread, OP. Maybe they need less sleep.

I think it’s fairly obvious what OP means: it’s hard to have a firm routine, calm environment and de-stress with a toddler kicking you in the head or a newborn screaming at you every 45 minutes or both of those things tag-teaming to run you ragged all night.

I am childless and have suffered from insomnia for years. The tips are not especially ground breaking but they do seem like sensible good tips and the majority sound possible for many people, even those with children.

I'm childfree and read the OP as meaning 'MN are having a laugh with these tips' from the POV of someone with young DC - adding grins meaning it was lighthearted. Perfectly reasonable post IMO.

The tips are shit for parents of very young children, yes. Once the kids are over the age of 3 I’d say these tips are as applicable for those parents as anyone without children. Maybe the “day off lie in” potential is different but otherwise I’d say these tips apply to plenty of parents.

I think the thing is the article itself appears to address parents (notwithstanding that many mumsnetters are not) and also mentions a new baby among reasons for not sleeping, but then goes on to say here's some tips!

Which for the parents of a new baby, or in my case a toddler and a 4 year old who didn't read the previous post (I'll agree most probably do sleep better by then though, alas mine doesn't!) probably aren't that useful.

I could have the best sleep hygiene or whatever ever but it doesn't really help me when I am woken by a screaming child at least every two hours every single night and often much more, so I did giggle a bit too, but appreciate it may be useful to some others

@stuntbubbles,
Funny how all the childless people getting good sleep are also joylessly sucking the lighthearted out of your thread, OP. Maybe they need less sleep

I am not sure if I am being sensitive but 'childless people' sounds a bit offensive.

I am not sure if I am being sensitive but 'childless people' sounds a bit offensive.

Childless is simply a factual description of somebody who doesn't have children (ever or yet, and for any reason). The suffix -less does not imply an unwanted lack, or a deficiency, or any other judgment. See: a faultless performance, a sleeveless top, a bloodless coup etc.

Whereas child-free, for example, does imply a value judgment. To be free of something implies it is something bad that you are glad not to have, which may indeed be the view of some voluntarily childless people, but it's stillnot a very nice way to view children.

@OUchica Not intended offensively, just factually. But accept it’s one of those minefields where different people prefer different nomenclature. Perhaps should have said “child-free” but as @Fairislefandango pointed out, I definitely don’t mean that those without children are “lesser”. I simply mean that those without children might not sleep for a myriad of reasons; but among those reasons is not a small child bellowing “I need a poo” at 3am.

I seem to be inadvertently following you around different threads and agreeing with you, @stuntbubbles. Not stalking, honest

@Fairislefandango I noticed too! We obviously share a taste in threads that make us go click. (I actually like it when I see someone good from another thread because it’s like a morality angel on my shoulder stopping me behaving badly elsewhere )