What is your parenting pet peeve?

[Anonymous]

My MIL credits any positive attribute to DS/"her side" and anything remotely negative, of course, to MY side. DS and I have preteens. This has been going on since they were newborns. Sometimes, could we leave genetics out of the conversation? Also, I abhor long conversations about how my children do or do not look like me or my DH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL credits any positive attribute to DS/"her side" and anything remotely negative, of course, to MY side. DS and I have preteens. This has been going on since they were newborns. Sometimes, could we leave genetics out of the conversation? Also, I abhor long conversations about how my children do or do not look like me or my DH.

This describes me, too! It is so silly, but SO annoying!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Who are all these parents preventing their kids from napping? I have never met one. Everyone loves their peace and quiet. PP with the napping sounds like she's patting herself on the back for doing what 99% of parents do: go home and put the kid down for the nap.

Umm me? We like to do family activities on the weekend and don't schedule them around the nap. Our toddler might sleep in the car or stroller when we're on the go. Otherwise we'll try to push his nap to the morning or late afternoon. Sometimes when we visit family he'll go to bed an hour or two late in the evening. Yes, he's not a great sleeper but it's what works best for our family.

Toddlers NEED good naps. It may be more convenient for you, but it does NOT "work best" for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Being A Great and Conscientious Mom Voice (hoping you will overhear me and be amazed at what a good parent I am) :

"Henry! You jumped all the way across that hopscotch pad! Way to go! Awesome job, buddy. Can you count to ten now? (Loudly and slowly counts to ten) TERRIFIC! Want a snack? How about WATER AND KALE CHIPS, your favorite! You're very welcome, thank you for your using your manners SO NICELY. Oh no no we don't wipe our mouths on our shirts. What do we do? NAPKIN, YES. Very good. What should we do next? Library then practice writing letters? YOU GOT IT LIL BUDDY!"

OMG, this makes me want to stab my eyes out. I hear this all the time. UGH!!!!! Please stop!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Facebook friend who takes everything her kid does as an opportunity to lecture other parents.

Look at what Larlo ate for lunch - kids need to be exposed to all sorts of foods and given no choice but what the adults eat. #nokidsmenu #pickyeatersnotallowed

Look at Larlo's arts and crafts project. Kids should be given every opportunity to practice their vocabulary - even in art!

And on and on. Why she feels the need to lecture the rest of us I don't know.

Oh gag. This is the worst.

[Anonymous]

People who comment loudly on one child's striking curly hair while ignoring the siblings with straight hair who are standing right there. Also people who do this for the blue-eyed child but ignore the brown-eyed one. It's so self-indulgent and rude.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Parents who think that every "good" thing their kid does is because THEY did the right thing. News flash: some kids are good eaters, some are good sleepers, some listen well.

Not all of these things are related to your natural childbirth, crying/not crying it out, sleep training/not sleep training.

Sometimes you just get lucky, and if you get too cocky and think your prenatal yoga ensured a good-natured baby, I'm going to laugh all day long when #2 is a high needs basket case.

I agree with this to a point. I do think my kids are good sleepers partially by nature and partially because we were, and continue to be, devoted to them sleeping. My almost 4.5 year old still naps and goes to bed for 12 hours at 7:30. 22 month old does the same schedule and we have a two blissful hours of a quiet house every day. People have rolled their eyes about our devotion to naptime - grandparents were annoyed when we wouldn't "just stay another hour!" etc, but we both have time to work out, have sex, on and on. Yes, we lucked out to a degree, but we pushed it consciously.

That said, I do agree that the parents with the naturally easy, well behaved kid who take full credit and blame others with more complicated kids for their "crappy parenting" are a joke. And mine are pretty easy.

That's great but if you didn't have nappers, there would be no nap to be devoted to. You are lucky. Enjoy!

Totally lucky to a degree, but the friends who laughed at us when we took our kids home to nap last year are now like "we can't believe Johnny still sleeps so well!"

Lady, you are exactly that person -- who credits themselves for their child's good sleeping/eating habits. Trust me, it's not because you are devoted to nap time. It's because you have good sleepers. The end.

No, she is right. It is part luck, part nature, AND part priorities, especially for sleep habits.

Who are all these parents preventing their kids from napping? I have never met one. Everyone loves their peace and quiet. PP with the napping sounds like she's patting herself on the back for doing what 99% of parents do: go home and put the kid down for the nap.

I personally hated the nap stage and did away with it at 1.5. I know some people who's lives revolve around forcing their kids back to sleep all damn day.

Sleep is a biological/developmental need, especially for toddlers. I feel sorry for your kids.

Please don't waste your time feeling sorry for my kid. The kid is fine despite my attempt to foil her biological/developmental needs.
Some people don't need as much sleep as others. She never did. She's 7 now, think she's going to be ok...

[Anonymous]

Humble brag parents; particularly evident in sports sidelines conversations.

Me: "you're number #9's mom/Evan, right? He is a fun player to watch. He is so energetic." (Kind of shooting the breeze here, I am no expert in sports)

Evan's Mom: "I can't believe he's playing as hard as he is today. He also plays travel/select/Team A sport and had that practice last night and after this game, we have to hit the road for his tournament. He made travel for this sport, but his Magnet Cluster Gifted Advanced schoolwork must come first and he couldn't play two travel sports, not with my work schedule..." His sister also blahblah elite advanced travel gifted placement busy being recruited by colleges already blahblah blah blah me myself I I I ....

[Anonymous]

Bump. I haven't heard anything that would bother me. Most caregivers are nannies when we are at the park and I haven't run into annoying one yet - no babytalk, no coochie-coochies.

[Anonymous]

My SIL's Facebook posts are pretty insufferable:

"Sad to be going back to work today (she works at a college so is off in the summer) but I'm so glad that Larlo (16 months old) is thrilled to be going back to school! Our little guy is quickly becoming his own person, and it's so great we have his school for fostering independence so early on in life! Going into the 2015-2016 school year, he knows and can identify many letters, including all of the vowels, and continues to learn new words daily! Last week's was turtle."

She also hashtags all of the pictures she posts of him with #DailyLarlo and has a "Harvard Class of 2036" board on Pinterest..

It's kinda sad because I actually like her in person, but the FB thing is kinda rough...

[Anonymous]

Parents who allow their kids to refer to adults by their first name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My SIL's Facebook posts are pretty insufferable:

"Sad to be going back to work today (she works at a college so is off in the summer) but I'm so glad that Larlo (16 months old) is thrilled to be going back to school! Our little guy is quickly becoming his own person, and it's so great we have his school for fostering independence so early on in life! Going into the 2015-2016 school year, he knows and can identify many letters, including all of the vowels, and continues to learn new words daily! Last week's was turtle."

She also hashtags all of the pictures she posts of him with #DailyLarlo and has a "Harvard Class of 2036" board on Pinterest..

It's kinda sad because I actually like her in person, but the FB thing is kinda rough...

Aw, poor kid. 10 bucks says he ends up being more like #AsslessChapsAtBurningMan2036

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who comment loudly on one child's striking curly hair while ignoring the siblings with straight hair who are standing right there. Also people who do this for the blue-eyed child but ignore the brown-eyed one. It's so self-indulgent and rude.

Similarly, everyone who wants to tell me HOW MUCH my kids look like me and "well, I am sure thtere's some DH in there... Somewhere..."
Bc my kids really dont look like me at all. I gave them some generically ethnic features but if you really look at them, they look exactly like DH and FIL with an ethnic "layer" on top.
My own parents do this and it drives me up a freakin wall.

[Anonymous]

I HATE when parents think it is cute when their child stands up during library story time and blocks the other kids from seeing the book being read. This happened yesterday and not only did the mother not do anything but she took pictures of her child while the kid was blocking the other kids.

[Anonymous]

I came up with another one. The I'm Too Cool for Parenting parent. They're the ones who come up with stuff like the My Kid is Being an Asshole website, or say mean spirited shit like "I am going to kill everyone in this family if school doesn't hurry up and start." It's not that we don't all think stuff like that, but they take it to such an extreme level as if they're just soooooo cool they can't even handle how lame parenting is.

We get it, you're awesome and think you're better than those of us who don't realize what a pain in the ass kids and taking care of them is. We stand in awe of how legit you are.