Britain's best parent

[BizarreBizarre]

Anyone watching? Basically 3 different styles of parenting being shown from 3 familys

I actually really like the Vegan parents and thought they should have won.

They had a really good community spirit about the liter picking. It was very safe (hi vis jackets and litter pickers).

Yes, totally obsessive about the food. And the mum getting upset because her child touched a dead fish! That was unfair.

I wonder how close it was. I wonder. I felt the vegan parents were the most balanced.

The pushy parent also had the cheek to say the girls were not confident when they arrived, erm they were until you told them off, stood over them and made them tidy up 🤣

You mean it wasn't the magic of pony club?

Well that was a fun play date for the kids ... vegan family .... litter picking

Patronising .... most families don’t chuck a can of coke and a jam sandwich at their kids ..... there is a middle ground

I liked the back to basics parents but can't work out if they lived In the field. In tents? Or a hut? Or do they just hang out there most days but have a rented flat somewhere? What if it's snowing?

I presumed they rented and spend most of their days at the field site. They were coming out of a house in the into section.

I didn't like the pushy parents and I agree the meal seemed set up to make the poor little girl uncomfortable. However I really really didnt like the vegans. Especially when it came to light that the mum had only been a vegan for 3 years. It seemed very ott that she didn't even want her child touching a fish and left me wondering if her 6 year old used to be allowed to eat meat beforemum became vegan?

@TinySleepThief

I presumed they rented and spend most of their days at the field site. They were coming out of a house in the into section.

I didn't like the pushy parents and I agree the meal seemed set up to make the poor little girl uncomfortable. However I really really didnt like the vegans. Especially when it came to light that the mum had only been a vegan for 3 years. It seemed very ott that she didn't even want her child touching a fish and left me wondering if her 6 year old used to be allowed to eat meat beforemum became vegan?

Oh yes good point I didn't make the connection between her only being vegan for 3 years and the child being 6.

Again this week it didn't have any depth to it. I'd like to know about their education, discipline etc

Oh yes good point I didn't make the connection between her only being vegan for 3 years and the child being 6.

It's all I could concentrate in when she said she had only been vegan for such a short amount of time. That and whether or not her DP was asserting his views as he had been vegan for a decade. (I've clearly been on MN too long).

I agree there seemed no depth to it. I have no idea if the outdoor parents home school their children, whether they or the vegans children do clubs etc? I also have no idea what their disciple approaches are, they might have approached this aspect of parenting similarly?? It was all very superficial this week.

When the presenter asked the basics parent if they were coming from a point of privilege and they said they weren't. How can they not know that that is a place of privilege. "If you have a house you can do the same" not if it's council, housing association, rented or mostly owned by the bank you can't!

I hated the vegans. I know many long term or life long vegans who would not freak out about their kid touching a fish. It's way OTT.

The pushy parents were mean though. They are etched in my mind now as the pony club and pork pie parents.

It's all I could concentrate in when she said she had only been vegan for such a short amount of time. That and whether or not her DP was asserting his views as he had been vegan for a decade. (I've clearly been on MN too long)

This is a good point.

I also thought the over reaction to the fish was very odd, considering the mum had only been vegan for almost 3 years.

I also disliked the almost obsessive way they kept talking about food, and how it affected the children's behaviour.

I also disliked the almost obsessive way they kept talking about food, and how it affected the children's behaviour.

I strongly suspect their children will all develop issues around food. They spoke about normal food i.e a jam sandwich ans what it would do to their bodies like it was crack cocain.

Yes the reaction to the touching of the fish was very odd. I'm vegetarian but think it's only natural a child would be curious about a dead fish and what it felt like. No big deal in my opinion and it certainly wasn't the basic parents fault that she touched it.

As usual I think most of us are a mixture of all 3 - eating fairly healthily but not obsessively so, going to a few clubs but also having downtime, playing outside and getting a bit dirty but not living in a field 😂

@TinySleepThief

Yes, and ironically a jam sandwich and a can of coke is vegan anyway!

[quote GracieLane]@TinySleepThief

Yes, and ironically a jam sandwich and a can of coke is vegan anyway! [/quote]
I didn't know about Coke. However, when they made a snide comment about jam sandwiches, all I could think was surely that's vegan.

Yes, and ironically a jam sandwich and a can of coke is vegan anyway!

Oh the irony. I would honestly love to see them in 5 years time trying to dictate to a 11 year old what they can or cannot eat.

The fact they compared allowing their childs future choice to try meat to giving them a cigarette was beyond stupid. They are honestly setting themselves up to unobtainable standards. You don't see meat eating parents point blank refusing to allow their children to be vegetarians and its so hypocritical given that both of them were allowed to make their own choice.

I'm always perplexed by vegans who talk about the importance of respecting the planet's resources, then have huge families. Surely no children are better for the planet than vegan ones? Having said that I thought they seemed nice and had good values.

Although the pushy parents were hard to take I think it's a real class/privilege thing in action - the back to basics parents were self-assuredly middle class enough to take a step back and allow their kids space whereas the pushy parents were clearly trying to push their daughter up the social scale with pony riding lessons and ballet etc. They seemed a bit clueless about how the world works 'only one manager in each company' and I ended up feeling sorry for them too.

BigSandyBalls2015 'Well that was a fun play date for the kids .' Actually some kids do really like litter-picking. But yes, the irony of 'a can of coke and a jam sandwich' is that I think that is all vegan anyway (or could be!).

How were the back to basics preparing their kids for modern life?

The vegan parents were odd in thinking plant based = healthier. That's not automatically the case. Did you see the big pile of pineapple?! Pineapple is pretty much cane sugar with a bit of flavour, it's really not "healthy"! The pushy parents were awful, I didn't like them one bit. Did anyone else spot the irony of them owning a trampoline park?
I liked the field parents but they made it look so extreme about selling your house in order to be outside in nature to do it. Everything they did was very standard forest school stuff, so all good. I'm glad they won.

Yes the parents ALL seemed a bit extreme this week, I agree if you're very green and environmentally aware, you certainly don't have a large family (it looked like the mum was pregnant!).
Also giving children peanut butter rice cakes on a big plate like that was insensitive, better to let the children make their own snacks. Pnuts are not exactly healthy if you've got an allergy!! It is pushing your own philosophy to the detriment of the kids feelings. What's the harm in eating or touching some fish, (or a sausage for that matter) if the child wants to when she's out?

The pushy parents were also insensitive, what happens if the kids just want to rest? Or feel ill? That food was unhealthy, pork pies are rubbish
The forest parents were quite good, great to see the kids playing with mud, getting messy, making bows and arrows etc. . ( I loved the pushy parents' faces when they were doing that) . It seemed to be left deliberately unclear how they lived in the winter!!!!

It seemed like the pushy parents told them to tidy up almost as soon as they got in?!

Yes the vegan parents funny attitude to food. And odd how the child shouldn't have touched the fish

Yes Purple I felt sorry for the kids , it seemed that (of course it could have been edited deliberately) they had just got in and were playing happily. When the "control freak" parents were getting them to tidy up.

They also weren't allowed more than one toy out at a time.
Talk about stifling their imaginations. Surely the whole point of toys is that they are mix and matched? Peppa pig riding on the train set or your dolls living in a Lego city etc. That child was so micromanaged that when she gets some freedom she's going to go wild

Depends if it's whole earth cola of Coca Cola I guess!

Just catching up. I want to see the homeschool parents when they've exhausted the whole of Pinterest and twinkl and are just shouting "why can't you just understand this fucking diagraph!!!!"