5 Things Non-Parents Should Never Say To Parents

If I am honest I can't remember what I used to think about parenting before I fell pregnant with my first. That may be because I was only 16 years old when I fell pregnant but trying to think hard, I can't remember any bad judgement I did to other parents whilst I was pregnant or when my daughter was young.

Being a parent is challenging. We all do it different. There is no child the same and there are no parents who parent their child the same either. We all have different opinions and we all have different ways to parent. I do believe that most of us parents do judge other parents in some of the ways they parent their child and I do think that is just natural but as long as you keep it to yourself - there is no harm.

One thing that really gets to me is how people who have no children think they know everything about parenting. They think they know better than the parent. How is that? I've had a few of these in through my years of being a parent and now those comments go through one ear and out the other.

1. Never Tell a Parent To Control Their Child
When you go out with a child {or more} you never know how they are going to behave. Some days they are good as gold, the next they can be nightmares and others they can be 50/50. No day is the same and sometimes they will just trigger off over the smallest thing ever. If you see a child loosing their temper with their parents, throwing themselves about, screaming, kicking and so on, the last thing you need to say to the parents is to control their child. Never say that. The parents are probably trying their hardest and the last thing they want is some stranger or even friend or family member telling them to control their own child.

2. "When I have a child I will make sure I have bought my own house, married and happy"
Urgh. I have actually had someone say this to me whilst I was pregnant with my second child. It did put me down and no one should ever say this to a parent. Just because someone has bought a house, married and 'happy' doesn't mean that having a baby will make your life 'better'. Having a baby changes everything with money, your home, relationship and financially.

3. Go to sleep when baby is napping
Right. Baby has a nap and us parents have a choice of either napping ourselves, chilling catching up on TV or do some housework. More than likely it will be the chilling or housework with the nap here and there but honestly, parents do not have time to nap every single day we have other things that need doing whilst baby naps too.

4. "Come out tonight!"
Seriously? I have a child. When you're a parent you can't really do last minute plans such as going out on the p*ss. We have to plan babysitting and we may not even get babysitters for a good few weeks! It just doesn't work like that.

5. "You're so lucky you can stay home"
Yes I am lucky to stay home with my children. But it's not all that easy, as you think it is. There is so much a parent needs to do, whether they are stay at home parents or working parents. Things non-parents just won't understand until they have children themselves.

Can you think of anything else that non-parents shouldn't say to us parents?