AIBU to laugh when a friend gives unsolicited parenting advice?

[BaconLegs]

For laughing when my friend gives me unsolicited parenting advice?

She has one child and I have three. Two of mine are teenagers.

Laugh all you want.
My parenting advice is dont have them.

Well you sound unbearably smug just cos you have popped out 3 sprogs. If she has a delightful child and yours are terrors then maybe the advice is warranted, we won’t know.

Having three children to her one in no way makes you a ‘superior’ parent to her, though. If you don’t want unsolicited advice, nip it in the bud.

Depends if you're actually friends and want to stay friends. Laugh away if you want to lose them as a friend. I'm sure they're not doing it maliciously, just a little naive more likely. If you want to keep them as a friend, probably better to let it roll off your back.

Example of advice please.

There is no context here.

Parents can have 3 children and sexually abuse all 3 and give them a lifetime of trauma whereas someone with one child does not do this. Just because the first family has more children doesn't mean they know better and therefore treat them better.

Gosh, please stop with the information overload….

Having more children doesn't make you a superior parent. You're both still basing it on a sample size of very small. Basically you think "my experience based on three people is so much better than yours based on one". It really isn't. Children are individuals. You don't have to listen to her advice but deriding it based on how many children she has is very blinkered.

A few touchy posters here! I’d laugh. It would be like me giving advice to parents with twins/triplets. I’ve not got a clue because I’ve not had that experience.

Judging by the first few replies though people have found this triggering.

More information required before anyone can make a judgement really. If she has one small child who is perfectly behaved and she’s trying to offer parenting advice for your teens who are hormonal and acting up then YANBU I guess. We can only advise based on our personal experience of being a teen but it’s different generation to generation so never fully accurate.

I think a lot of people offer advice on parenting teens because they remember what it's like to be one far more than when they were little. My younger colleagues can sometimes help me see a path through something with dd (14) as they remember a similar experience and can draw on that. At closer to 50 and peri menopausal my memory is more blurry. They have no children at all but I still appreciate they care enough to listen and offer me their perspective. Sometimes I choose to follow their advice especially when what I'm doing isn't working. There's no 1 right way to parent. It's a relationship that changes all the time.

You get that from a single 2 line post without examples? You must have some mighty good perception. 🤨

@BaconLegs it all depends on context. If you are struggling with something and she's giving suggestions trying to be helpful yabu. If she thinks she's an expert trying to preach to you how to raise a child yanbu. Context and her intention are key here.