School gate mums make each other feel like failures - Mothers who meet each other at the school gates make each other feel more inadequate than celebrities who effortlessly shed their baby weight and appear adept as parents, a study has found.
More than 90% of mothers compared their child-rearing skills against those of their friends and relatives, according to research by Netmums, the parenting website.
Four in 10 respondents to the survey said they felt their friends were better than them at being parents, while one in five lied to others about how much time they spent playing with their children and the food they cooked at home.
The group is calling on the Coalition to offer parenting classes to all new mothers and fathers and to promote a more realistic image of the “good enough” parent instead of reinforcing false expectations.
The campaigners have won support from Labour leader Ed Miliband, television presenter Kate Garraway, and the Prime Minister, who said: “Parenting is incredibly rewarding but as all parents know it can be tough at times too.”
David Cameron has backed the new campaign to stop mothers making each other feel inadequate by competing to be “perfect parents”.
The survey of 5,000 users of the website found that mothers who met each other at the school gates had a greater influence on making each other feel inadequate than celebrities who effortlessly shed their baby weight and appeared adept as parents in the media.
A quarter of mothers lied to each other about how much television they allowed their children to watch and 15% exaggerated the amount of quality time they spent with their partners.
The campaign - The Real Parenting Revolution – called for a return to the “good enough” approach to parenting conceived by child psychologist Donald Winnicott in the 1950s.
Winnicott argued that parents who did not achieve perfection helped their children to develop self-reliance and a sense of their own identity.
Siobhan Freegard, co-founder of Netmums, said parents should be more willing to seek help and advice.
“No one is born knowing how to be a parent – you get along the best you can,” she said. “We hear from mums all the time who are struggling with all the conflicting advice being given to them about how to reach parenting perfection – and who are coping with huge amounts of guilt when they don’t achieve this.
“We want 2011 to be the year when mums and dads across the country can accept that being ‘good enough’ is just that.” ( telegraph.co.uk )
Blog : Concentrate On One Man | School gate mums make each other feel like failures | Concentrate On One Man
More than 90% of mothers compared their child-rearing skills against those of their friends and relatives, according to research by Netmums, the parenting website.
Four in 10 respondents to the survey said they felt their friends were better than them at being parents, while one in five lied to others about how much time they spent playing with their children and the food they cooked at home.
The group is calling on the Coalition to offer parenting classes to all new mothers and fathers and to promote a more realistic image of the “good enough” parent instead of reinforcing false expectations.
The campaigners have won support from Labour leader Ed Miliband, television presenter Kate Garraway, and the Prime Minister, who said: “Parenting is incredibly rewarding but as all parents know it can be tough at times too.”
David Cameron has backed the new campaign to stop mothers making each other feel inadequate by competing to be “perfect parents”.
The survey of 5,000 users of the website found that mothers who met each other at the school gates had a greater influence on making each other feel inadequate than celebrities who effortlessly shed their baby weight and appeared adept as parents in the media.
A quarter of mothers lied to each other about how much television they allowed their children to watch and 15% exaggerated the amount of quality time they spent with their partners.
The campaign - The Real Parenting Revolution – called for a return to the “good enough” approach to parenting conceived by child psychologist Donald Winnicott in the 1950s.
Winnicott argued that parents who did not achieve perfection helped their children to develop self-reliance and a sense of their own identity.
Siobhan Freegard, co-founder of Netmums, said parents should be more willing to seek help and advice.
“No one is born knowing how to be a parent – you get along the best you can,” she said. “We hear from mums all the time who are struggling with all the conflicting advice being given to them about how to reach parenting perfection – and who are coping with huge amounts of guilt when they don’t achieve this.
“We want 2011 to be the year when mums and dads across the country can accept that being ‘good enough’ is just that.” ( telegraph.co.uk )
No comments:
Post a Comment