New Study Finds Non-Parents Know More About Parenting Than Actual Parents
A new study released by the American Academy of Pediatric Enigma Studies (AAPES) suggests non-parents know more about parenting than people who are actually raising small humans. Women expecting their first child came in second place.
Researchers asked study participants questions such as, “What do you feel is an acceptable dinner on a Friday night?” a. Chicken breast and broccoli, b. Macaroni and cheese, or c. McDonalds Happy Meal. Shockingly, 78% of non-parents responded correctly that the most appropriate dinner is protein-rich lean chicken with a green vegetable. However, 75% of one child parents selected macaroni and cheese, while 82% of multi-children parents chose a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
The section of the survey concerning discipline was even more surprising for the AAPES. When asked how parents should handle a public meltdown, 52% of non-parents responded “I would calmly kneel down to my child’s level, as Kate Middleton would, and serenely explain to my child about the right behavioral choice, and why a tantrum is not the right choice.” Another 25% of non-parents responded that they would “never allow their child to have a meltdown in public,” and the remaining 23% answered that “if my child was prone to public meltdowns, I would never bring them in public.” Parents of one or more children responded that they would either “stand there and wait for the kid to stop,” or “join in and start crying as well.”
Women pregnant with their first child overwhelmingly responded to infant feeding questions by selecting they “would only feed a baby breast milk,” as did non-parents. However, parents who are actually raising humans and not just coming up with hypothetical scenarios about how they would handle really challenging situations they’ve never experienced, said they would “feed their baby formula if it was the right thing for mother and child.”
Although these survey results were alarming for many, our one consolation should be that luckily, those without children seem to always be available to offer unsolicited advice to parents who are actually raising human beings.
