What is going on with parenting these days?

[whocaresaboutbeingpopular]

Ok, so as my name change suggests I am aware this won’t be popular. My children are almost adults, youngest is 17 this year.

me and OH are away this weekend, we went to a place that to be fair we were aware would be full of kids; but we didn’t think that would matter as we don’t dislike having children around, however, since when did it become a thing to….

put your kids in front of a screen when they are having a meal? Not to mention having full volume of Peppa Fucking Pig?

let your kids shriek at high pitch continuously?

let your 18 month old walk themselves down the stairs despite a massive queue of people behind t? Ffs pick them up!

yes, no doubt I sound a right miserable bastard, but come on - is this how people are raising their kids these day? Bring on the entitled generation.

The 18mo thing is ridiculous.

But iPads are no different to kids having colouring books. It’s a means to keep them occupied - although mine have headphones if they’re watching videos and thank Christ are well past Peppa Bastard Pig age.

Shrieking children - I’m gonna be that MNer and say that a lot of ND children are allowed to go to restaurants and may shriek. My cousin’s child is ND and has been known to make loud noises. Not much that can be done, I’m afraid the world is full of other people and on a busy weekend in a busy venue you just have to tolerate it

And obviously not ALL children who shriek will be ND but unless you know you really can’t judge.

🙄

well If the shrieking is down tk the child being ND, there were a lot of ND children. Queuing to go in, a family were letting their kids climb all over the payment desk and not telling them to get down, why do children need to colour or screen time at a table? I’m not talking about babies - when are they supposed to learn social skills? Why do parents feel that everyone else wants to be as indulgent of their little darlings as they are?

Yeah roll your eyes, are you one of the parents?

Children are like farts, you can only tolerate your own 🤷‍♀️

I have a ND child who doesn't shriek or use an iPad when eating out. Stop putting this one on us and our children.

why do children need to colour or screen time at a table

Because spending hours at a table engaging in adult conversation can be boring. It’s fine to allow children to have some fun. It’s not the only place they learn social skills, my kids have excellent social skills and they often have tablets in restaurants.

I do have quite a high tolerance for noisy children, so maybe it doesn’t affect me as much, but allowing noisy kids to ruin and day out is a bit ridiculous.

I'm mum to a toddler. I'm a good mum - promise. I also let my daughter watch a screen sometimes at the table in a restaurant. Sometimes because she is massively overstimulated, or tired, or ill, and I want to limit the impact she has on other diners if she were to have a meltdown. And rarely, but sometimes I do it because I need a bloody break for ten minutes.

I am otherwise a really good parent. My daughter is loved and bright and inquisitive and generally wonderful. She is also a much kinder person than you sound, so I must be doing something right.

Every generation tends to say this.

It sounds v annoying, but you went somewhere full of kids, that was a leeetle bit mad.

As I’ve said - they didn’t ruin it - I like to see kids having fun, but I was taken aback by the parenting - or lack of.
man’s they weren’t at tables for hours - it was a self service cafe not an adult restaurant.

Well plenty of ND children do, I wasn’t putting anything on anyone

Maybe go to an “adult cafe” next time (though I’d be wary of anywhere that advertises using those exact words 🤣)

There is no parenting any more. They all want to be their child’s friend 🤦‍♀️

FGS did we REALLY have to go down the ageism route?!

And a lot of NT children do too. My wrath wasn't aimed at you specifically but the general MN approach of "well they must be ND" Whenever behavioural issues are up for discussion. It's never actually just piss poor parenting at play according to this site.

Or maybe they just don’t parent like you do?

Look, my kids are either shrieking fidgeting and annoying everyone around them who are trying to eat a meal in peace, or they’re on their tablets.
yep parenting has changed, but so have the times. If screens were a thing 15 years ago who knows what you would have chosen o do?! And I also feel like maybe peoples tolerance of children in public has also changed- people are constantly getting pissed off for one thing or another and parents feel a lot of pressure about that! Can’t please everyone!

I agree OP, but you’ll be slaughtered on here for admitting it.
my kids are older teens and I think parenting has changed massively in a short period of time. Some ways good, some bad-parenting now is very indulgent though compared to when mine were little. And behaviour is much worse generally.

It's always peppa pig 🙄

Times have changed its cocomelon or YouTube now

My children have headphones thank you and they play virtual slime making games the only noise we get are the intrusive adverts

I have a 2 year old. We don’t do screen time when out and about; never have. I do judge parents who just stick their kids in front of a screen to keep them quiet when they go into a restaurant.

I want to bring my toddler up to be well behaved and patient in resultants, not just stick her in front of a screen and then in a few years time wonder why she won’t sit still/behave appropriately. As a result we can take her to any restaurant or cafe.

I would allow her to walk down the stairs because I think it’s important but I would not allow us to hold other people up. So I wouldn’t do it if it was a small staircase where people couldn’t pass.

It’s not the only place they learn social skills, my kids have excellent social skills and they often have tablets in restaurants.

But people go to restaurants to eat and enjoy the atmosphere, not to look round the room and see it dotted with flashing irritating tablets. It’s annoying and ruins the surroundings for everyone else. And I don’t believe that any child who can’t sit at a table with a meal of their choice and chat for an hour has ‘great social skills’. Social skills have to be developed across all contexts. Not just in specific situations that children enjoy.

No I’m not peri-menopausal, just don’t like being surrounded by ineffectual parents and their poor children. It was a massive queue behind this 18 month old child descending the stairs at a snails pace - including other children in the queue - there was absolutely no need - she could practice the stairs descent somewhere else - there was absolutely no need, I don’t need to be peri menopausal to realise how ridiculous this mother was being

Agreed. At some stage that I can’t pinpoint it became entirely ok to play your kids screen at full volume without headphones. 🤦🏻‍♀️

mine only had portable dvds on flights … because those were the times. But they damn sure had headphones.

Can’t bear it and I fight a one woman battle at home and abroad to get parents to turn the effing volume off if they are too dense to understand headphones. Ffs.