Childless Friends

[horseshoe]

Does any one else know of people who although childless...think they know everything about how to bring up a child????? How do you cope with that without needing to say something...It's always my friend this and I wouldn't do that...aaarrgggghhhhhh

Horseshoe - next time she says that, just ask her who she thinks will be working to pay for her state pension when she is 60 - OUR KIDS!!!

Yes - I do! I have a friend I have known since school who works in the Early Years department of our local council but has no direct contact with children. She is childless but thinks she knows everything about kids because she has read a lot of books etc.

She once told me I HAD to have another child as I COULD NOT let DD be an only child. That she would NEVER allow her children to have any junk food and that her kids would never have tantrums because she would sit down and explain why their behaviour was wrong and they would understand straight away.

She is a typical text book mum and I look forward to the day she has kids and realises the truth Ha Ha Ha (evil laugh!)

Oh yes I know lost of people like this. I just laugh. At first I tried to reason with them but soon realised I was wasting my breath. Now I just laugh and laugh and laugh and say "wait til your turn..." I have noticed that my friends with fertility problems are not like this, it is the ones that hve put off childbirth even longer than I did. But even worse than this are the friends who have older kids and therefore think they know better than you what you child needs. If one more person tells me to give my baby a dummy (he is a very happy baby and rarely grizzles) I will scream!

OMG I was the person you describe! Before I had my son of course.
I actually find the most annoying person in my life to be my friend who has a slightly younger, very very calm, very small son. I have a larger, more wayward model. The way she looks at my son, like 'OMG I can't believe how lucky I am to have an easier baby than him!' really gets my back up. And of course her boy won't be having junk food or cake ever (or any fun by the looks of things... )
(Not that junk food = fun but you know what I mean.)
But you have to forgive 'em, for they know not what they do...And they in their turn will seethe when some twit mentions 'setting boundaries' or 'keeping to a routine' or 'maintaining discipline'...

My friends are all fine, its my Dad that ets my goat My DS loves my DD to peices, if you saw him you would see for yourself, and he was acting up because he was tired and my Dad pipes up its because his nose is out of joint because he is pushed out because of DD (so not true), he also told me DD should not have tummy time because she doesn't like it (she makes grunting noises as she tried to work her arms and her legs but she is not distressed by it at all). He also says that my dates were wrong when I was PG because I was quite large and my DS was 6 weeks early and DD was a week early, despite DSs obvious need for medical care at birth and having numerous scans in both pregnancys. Oh, and my Dad is such an expert because he had no involvement in my upbringing and deserted my mother

Can you tell you hit a raw nerve???? LOL

Hee-hee....this thread has made me laugh! I was a nanny for 16 years and very tough! Kind and loving but very strict. Friends would ask me things about child rearing and how to get their kids to bed at 7pm and how to get them to eat and I thought I was truly wise.

Then I had a baby and I didnt know what had hit me!

I broke every rule in the book from putting ds on his tummy to sleep and putting the TV on to shut him up and forgetting to clean his teeth most days and not knowing what to do when he spat at me!

Now when people ask me questions, I tell them I have no idea....just go with what you think!!

I am very lucky in that my childless friends love my kids, buy them fab christmas and birthday presents and let me come come out with them and get drunk and just be me like we were in the "old days". I don't think either of them have ever commented on what they would or wouldn't do with their kids, I think they are in awe of us mums and realise they have it easy!!

OOooo, friends with younger babies who can actually say more than yours can. My friends 1 year old is saying more than my nearly 2 year old, and she rubs it in SO subtly ie

Q:What does x say when he wants his potty?
A:He doesn't use a potty, and he wouldn't say anything anyway. He doesn't know he's going yet!

Q:Did x mis-pronounce his words sometimes when he was y's age?
A:As I have said, he doesn't speak yet!!!

collision - I've heard this from other nannies too. My own (who now has a daugter) admits that she's ended up doing things (generally things associated with being a bit soft) that she whole-heartedly disapproved of before she had her own. Why is it so different? I assume (but maybe I'm wrong) it's a combination of the strength of love you feel for your own, the 24-7 aspect of being a parent (which are obviously closely tied iyswim), and the incredible ability your own have to test the limits?