i reckon i'd make a pretty shit parent. luckily, i have no intention to breed.

Yeah, I mean..how hard could it be?

I'm sure there are many aspects about parenting which are really, really hard, but not lying and bribing your kids is pretty fucking easy.

i wonder what he has to give the kid to get it dressed every morning...

Yep. For evidence, look at any list of children's first names at a primary school.

Fucking outrageously awful.

are you a parent moke?

''....lying and bribing your kids is pretty fucking easy.''

but not lying and bribing your kids is pretty fucking easy.

Actually, no...it's not easy at all.

moke. littlesmoke.

see, i'm easily amused. ignore me.

i'm exposed to lots of lazy parenting at my work.. horrible, screaming kids ( mostly 2-7 year olds) who seem to get away with all sorts of mischief which their parents blatantly ignore (running full ball in a shop, grabbing and breaking lots of stuff, temper tantrums, swearing..)

um mah!

tinyman: Yes, I am a parent.

yep. parents are fucked. teach your children about personal space please. i don't want your snotty little grogans standing on me.

what? no, i was just enjoying the fact your user name endes with ''moke''. and there's moke. look! letters form patterns! claps excitedly

i wasn't questioning anything.

I'm not a parent no, so I'm well aware that parenting is probably way harder than I realise, but I just think it's so important to be honest and upfront with your kids. Why is it so hard to say ''wear your hat because if you don't you'll get sunburnt and it will hurt'' instead of bribery.

ahhhh, yes...easily amused. :-)

totally agree moke.

they don't believe you until they get sunburnt and it hurts.

these days you're considered a bad parent for letting your child get sunburnt.

i prefered the punitive method. if you don't put on your hat, you won't get .....etc.etc.

but that's because i gave up on childrearing books which tell people not to be negative with their children.

on the other hand, i believe there are fights you can win with kids and fights you are gonna lose. and it's best to pick the fight you know you will win.

There seems to be this new-school of thought amongst new parents that you try and be fair and reason with your child and the child will respond accordingly. I have seem some awful public displays of child-meltdown where the parent is trying to negotiate with some awful brat child and I feel like stepping in and saying ''you cannot reason with a child, they are not a rational adult they are a CHILD, stop your new-age nonsense give them a clip over the ear and be on your way''.

Why is it so hard to say ''wear your hat because if you don't you'll get sunburnt and it will hurt'' instead of bribery.

I agree...& personally, I would never resort to such blantant bribery in such a situation. However, it's not always that cut & dry. There's often give & take involved in parenting....some things are always a trade off. Besides, if the worst thing that parent did was to bribe their kid into wearing a hat with a lolly, then really...it's not so bad. Some parents couldn't give a toss if the kid got sunburnt or not...other parents beat the living shit out of their kids or worse....

at 16, my children are so over being reasoned with. just tell me once and i'll listen. enough with the ten minute explanation.

horrible, screaming kids ( mostly 2-7 year olds) who seem to get away with all sorts of mischief which their parents blatantly ignore

I remember this from when I worked in a shop. One particular beauty, after throwing a packet of chips all over the shop and throwing all the folded stuff on the floor, was tearing at jewelery and when I told her to stop I was yelled at by the parents.

!

i've got 2 little girls and they're awesome. every day though i feel like there's something i coulda handled better or whatever. the guilt, the uncertainty...i guess every day's gonna be like that from here on in eh?

parental guilt is insanely common columbo. there's not a day that goes by when i don't beat myself up about something.

Do you make good on your threats, Ken?

Jeez, columbo, don't get an anxiety disorder.

Most times, as long as you're still around, anything you might have done wrong you can probably make up for.

Do you make good on your threats, Ken?

yep.

there's not a day that goes by when i don't beat myself up about something.

me too. i've learned not to focus on it, though. taking stock of the things that have gone right, and/or just stepping back and assessing how things are going as a whole, makes me feel better.

but i also reckon that guilt can be useful in forcing you to rethink your approach in certain circumstances.

Well that's good. I used to be the nanny of a little girl who was very sweet but also a fucking nightmare at times due to the fact her parents never made good on their threats.

Jeez, columbo, don't get an anxiety disorder.

who's to say i don't deserve to have one? still 12 or so years til they're teenagers...fingers crossed..

i just had the awesome experience of yelling at a child who smashed his trolley into me while being a right little prat standing in line. the mother did nothing. then when he tripped and smashed his head into my trolley and burst into tears, i laughed. which the mother reacted to. and then she copped a fuckin' serving from me about disciplining her child in public. which then got applause from the other people around us.

fuckin' parents who don't take responsibility for their children's social actions should be shot.

svelteslacks said 56 seconds ago: fuckin' parents who don't take responsibility for their children's social actions should be shot.

dont shoot my mummy its not her fault...the devil made me do it

Go svelteslacks!

if we all rise up against this, we can change the world!!

i'm gonna tell parents off from now on. watch it get me punched in the face or something.

I'm a big believer in the ''do this because'' line of reasoning, but there should be no discussion or choice in most matters, i.e. please do this NOW. But I remember really appreciating an adult taking the time to explain why they were asking me to do something.

And I fucking hate parents who are totally deaf to their screaming kids in public. You gotta set the limits early. Kids need rules and boundaries, while still being allowed to be kids. Bribing is the way to raise a spoilt little shit.

I always responded to explanations, I would sometimes rebel if it seemed pointless.

can't really think of anywhere else to put this one:

Four-year-old boy shoots babysitter

An angry four-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his babysitter, US police say.

Nathan Beavers, 18, was hospitalised on Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Police say another teenager was also injured.

Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot.

Beavers was watching the child at a mobile home in Jackson with several other teenagers and several other children.

Jackson County Sheriff John Shashteen says authorities are investigating. The child has not been charged.

what about the parents who gave their ten week old baby an eccy? i just saw that on the news

THAT'S FUCKED UP

yep. that one left me speechless then furious.

Wow, I thought it was bad when the 8 year old I used to babysit would take off all of his clothes and escape into the neighbourhood and then hide in his tree-house. At least the little shit never shot me.

I've just had to 'save' my mum. Bloody hell sometimes you wonder who is the parent... But i do it because i love.