Britain's best parent

[BizarreBizarre]

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

I can't imagine seeing that as a child. I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt that he had phrased it clumsily but then he changed it to wife is priority which is worse in many respects.

Alexa genuinely nice. parents But deluded. They most likely got smacked themselves as kids and haven't thought hard enough or are not self aware enough to realise that it's basically an incorrect way to raise children.

Ref. it's a very good thing that we have the choice to HE. There are many bad schools and teachers sadly. (I speak as an ex teacher). We took our child out of a school where she was literally being bullied by the teacher for having dyslexia. I was in no way going to allow it, it could have affected her for life. She chose to go back to a different school after a couple of terms at home, it worked well for her.

ppeatfruit, yeah, I'm not arguing against the right to HE at all. I can totally see why it might be the best choice where there have been issues with SEN, bullying etc. I also understand why some parents might choose that if they are really unhappy with the choice of schools available to them. It's a rational choice in those situations. I guess what I don't agree with is where home schooling is a philosophical choice rather than a pragmatic one.

Another vote for the natural parents. Could thing about this programme is I think it makes one fell better about ones own parenting, if these are examples of best parenting.

We bought up ours to have a say in their lives. School doesn't suit every child by any means. Our 3 couldn't be more different, they have led ,and lead, the lives they have chosen (with our input of course, but no pushing unless they wished for it ) they are happy, productive, socially aware adults. They had boundaries but no strict discipline at all, it doesn't lead to happy people.

Anyone else piss themselves laughing when they asked the little boy if it matters whether you win and he replied “well it depends, if it’s a rowing race it doesn’t really matter... but if it’s war it definitely does”?

Yes I liked that

Yes that was funny

Ds2 chuckled at that for ages

We had to rewind that bit and watch it again! So funny!

TinySleep "The parents who won dind't actually have a parenting style confused they just wantdd their children to do martial arts, (aka a physical after school activity) , eat dinner as a family and develop academically (so pretty much like every other parent in the country) confused."

But I think that is a style and it's maybe the one that many of us do use. So maybe that was why they won.

I think the home-schoolers were lovely and their style was great but realistically most families cannot afford to home school their kids.

The back-to-basics were lovely too but how can most families sell their house and buy a field, I am not sure there are enough fields for us all to do that!

The strict parents were, I thought, except for the smacking, lovely. But most parents (and even non-parents) in the UK now would not agree to snacking. So realistically I am not sure they could win.

So that leaves the Eastern influence parents and yes, I thought they were lovely too!

What the Eastern influence parents offered was physical activity and discipline, family meal times, balance and a bit of parent-time.

AlexaShutUp "I really couldn't bear the husband, banging on about hierarchy in the family and loving his wife more than he loved his children. "

I did feel the dad was wrong to say something like I love my wife more than my kids.

For me I think that the parents relationship is very important because in an ideal situation that can help to keep the kids well cared for etc, as part of a loving family, and (all things being equal, e.g. a good partnership) parenting in a partnership is easier and is that balance that he was talking about.

I don't know enough about 'eastern influence parenting' (I would say there is definitely not one parenting style for the whole of Asia!) but I have lived in Asia and what they showed seemed to fit in quite with the limited amount I know.

I must admit I felt the REAL STARS were the kids. My own children would not have joined another family for activities, eaten unusual food, and certainly not stayed overnight without us at those ages (or even now!). So all the parents did well to raise such confident children.

Thay .ight look confusing, I meant my kids would not have joined another family for activities without me.

Italian It depends on the child, yes I agree there are'nt many who would feel confident in those situations esp at age 6 or under.

Maybe they were introduced and 'tested'\auditioned by the producers before the show began, we aren't told if the families were completely strange to the children. (I did notice that one of the younger girls was hanging back with her mum before entering the strict parents' house).

They might have gone to the younger ones houses first so that they at least knew the kids if not the parents. I think my kids would be happy if you just dressed it up as a play date. Tbf the first time you go to a friends house you might not have met both parents very many times.

Also Alexa the main trouble with the state schools is that there are too many children in the classes, too much pressure to succeed from a young age. A strict curriculum which doesn't suit all the children. ( I've taught since the 70s when it was very different, freer,) now it's gone too far the opposite way. Very little sen help for the many who need it. Also too much pressure on the teachers. Not enough money of course. (it may be improving somewhat) if you luckily have a good local school.

I can understand why the HE parents decided to to do it.

I've just been catching up with this series. I think like many PP I thought that the whole premise was flawed. I wish they'd replaced the competition with contributions from experts.

One reaction I had that I feel a bit ashamed of is that there was a family that seemed to put a lot of store on the children being successful and achieving, yet the parents were very over-weight.

Oh, and I agree, the children were absolute stars and very sympathetically portrayed. I'm so glad that the editing was kind and responsible to all of the participants.

Yes Egg The producers these days seem to think that nearly EVERYTHING has to be a contest, I don't know why. it doesn't make it exciting, it just seems to trivialise it.

It's surprising that they didn't give the parents a specific number of days\or hours to 'get round' the children Like they do in some of the 'doing up property' or cookery programmes.

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

^^i thought they were awful! Plenty of time for pony club but not diet and exercise

I agree totally about the 'pushy' parents I felt sorry for the little girl,she seemed sweet. There wasn't time for any emotional intelligence either.

Actually the winners weren't very empathetic either, what happens if the children feel ill or just not in the mood for all that martial art exercise. The parents might find they'll have 2 couch potatoes or runaways when the kids get to teenage hood!

Have just binge watched the whole series!

I thought the right parents won.
What they were saying was sound and their method was the easiest to replicate. It most closely resembled what we want for our son.

I also liked the homeschooling parents very much but that just isn't realistic for most people (in terms of time or resources). It is what I would aspire to at weekends and during holidays though...encouraging children to think critically and to seize learning opportunities when they do arise.

Did also like most of what the strict parents did but the smacking was quite a letdown.

Just couldn't identify with the "back to basics" parents at all...they seemed like nice people but we are real city people who walk a lot...beyond that we are not really outdoorsy. Our sports mainly consist of indoor activities like swimming and the gym. We just couldn't really find much in common with them.

Did anyone else question the method of the series though?
I mean it CLEARLY wasn't scientific but...
For example, was the audience the same every week? Or did it change? That would have affected the results of each week's vote significantly. I also would have liked to see percentages/how each week's vote broke down. A public vote would have also spiced things up a bit as opposed to only having the studio audience voting.