Britain's best parent

[BizarreBizarre]

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

I also thought the audience looked a bit bored and fidgety last night.

I disagree with most posters on here. I found all families intolerable. The lazy family. I couldn't associate with them at all. And I'm quite lazy naturally.

And I totally disagree with ppeatfruit:

"BUT the kids' bodies' will get too used to highly salted\ sweetened foods and won't be able to taste the subtle flavours of real foods, think strawberries, so they'll refuse them."

My 2 teens, play a lot of sport, eat tonnes of healthy stuff, plus tonnes of processed shit and crisps and frankfurters etc aswell.

"BUT the kids' bodies' will get too used to highly salted\ sweetened foods and won't be able to taste the subtle flavours of real foods, think strawberries, so they'll refuse them."

Errr no. Not in my house. We eat a lot of everything !

Eating "tonnes of processed shit" is not so much about taste buds as health, surely?

I think that the audience is voting for the couple they find least intolerable or out there. At this rate the final is going to be three sets of strict disciplinarians.

Perhaps that tends to apply more to adults, Oblomov IMO the manufacturers wouldn't fill their products with too much sugar and salt if it didn't work.

I did also say that apart from cxkx I didn't ban anything.

I just know from myself and dh if I we eat a lot of sugary stuff we
can't taste the natural sweetness of fruit.

Yes this is a stupid series.

Why don't you write coke or cola?

(And agreed, this is a stupid series! I'd love House of Tiny Tearaways to come back with Dr Tanya).

I hate the company and I don't want cookies from them!

purpleme very sad if they only have one rabbit.

7SimonJT I'd say I was attachment parenting too but they did seem OTT. I tell my kids I love them s lot bit don't wake them both with s cuddle. In some ways o see attachment as more when they are younger. I do tend to offer a lot of fiod choices but I wouldn't say not doing that is cruel, as they seemed to feel it was.

I don't serve things my kids hate but do give choice.

I tried the one meal thing but one child is very fussy. Being strict re food led to stress for all.

I don't think sticking burger, sausages and whatever the third thing was, nuggets, into oven is really 'cooking three meals'.

Lasagne, roast and fish and chips would be cooking three things.

My dd made a fabulous casserole the other day with potatoes and dumplings and I did two kinds of veg. DS is very fussy and doesn't eat potatoes so he had spaghetti hoops, cooked chicken slices and the veg we had. I don't really think of that as cooking 2 meals.

If you have a very fussy child it's easy for people to say 'make them eat XYZ' but actually it leads to a lot of disharmony and stress sometimes.

As ds is adopted we want unity and harmony. Ironically, sometimes a degree of harmony is achieved by not expecting every one to like and eat the same stuff.

LittleMonkeyz "I did like the strict parents other than the smacking"I agree.

I felt oatent-centered mum was nice but a bit selfish, wantimg her lad to do a lot for her. I felt his needs were not being met perhaps. His identity was too wrapped up in her.

Marsalimay

"I thought it was awful! The "Loser!" thing was just boorish. Life isn't a competition. Children shouldn't be their parents' best friends." 100% agree.

It's a bizarre premise for a programme. You can't really say how good parenting has been until you see how the child turns out as an adult.

I may get shot down for this but...

Does anyone else think Willows mum really wanted a girl?

It is very odd isn't it. I know how to parent my boys, but how I'd parent another child is totally unknown. My two boys need totally different parenting so I'd assume other children need something different again. So you can't really compare parenting at all, as children are different!

Yes
You can't take the programme seriously anyway

No, it is silly and they are obviously all extremes of parenting styles. I think most parents do a little bit of everything.

I agree purpleme IMO It's not very well thought through pop rubbish.

A missed opportunity for a serious look at a serious subject. There's no explanations about the amount of time that the children were introduced to the new parents and their homes. (let alone the cameras etc.!) Most kids would behave completely differently if they were relaxed, or nervous. Esp. the younger ones.

@purpleme12

Yes You can't take the programme seriously anyway

No, it would be better if it was more like the series the family where they had cameras in the home for what was I think a few weeks.

I generally follow attachment parenting, if I gave my son to anyone new for a few hours he would generally follow their rules, be polite, eat what he was given (if he had asked if it contained milk or meat). But most young children would do that with a stranger in a strange home. If I gave him to one of my friends for a few hours he would act completely differently because it is someone he knows, trusts and feels safe around.

It doesn't really show the styles fully and I wonder how much they do day to day.
I liked the strict parents the best although I can't stand smacking and think it's awful. I also liked the parent centric one because her kid seemed really nice and confident.

Name I thought that too about Willow's mum, would she have dressed a girl in boys 'colours' and styles? fair enough to give the children choices, of course

It's not as 'out there' to dress a girl in boys clothes. Trousers, blue etc are more seen as unisex than dresses and pink. I think she's trying to make a statement.

I was very surprised that the parents who smack their children won this week. Maybe I'm too Swedish, but once they said that I lost all interest in anything they had to say about parenting.

Yeah, I’m shocked the smacking parents won. DP and I had to google it because we thought smacking was illegal now!

I think it is in Wales. Legal in the uk as long as you don't leave a mark.
I kind of think it's easier to understand when done in anger. You lose control. But to premeditatedly decide to smack your child fir lying. I'm shocked.

IMO smacking is about fearing loss of control by the parent. Also not taking the age or the mental development of the child into account IS cruel. The strict parents were like that; how can a 3 year old be expected to 'behave' ,eat all it's food etc. at the table without fearing it;s parent?

Bringing children up in fear (interesting that they smacked their child for lying) which is a natural stage of development in some children, they grow through it if it's not heavily stressed over, so they smacked a child for being a child, IMO and E it leads to humiliation and eventual violence out of the home if not in it.

They can wrap it up any way they want, but it's a grown man hitting a child, which is appalling parenting. They said it wasn't hitting it was smacking?! What's the difference please.