‘What is something your parents were not strict about but you wish they were?’ – 23 people who were crying out to be grounded

When you’re a kid you dream of having parents who will let you stay up late, watch telly until your eyes turn square and eat Mars Bars for breakfast. And when you’re an adult you humbly realise why they didn’t.

They’ve been discussing the wisdom of our elders on the AskUK subreddit after TTNNBB2023 asked this:

What is something your parents were not strict about but you wish they were?

Mine would be studying, I never studied and my parents never encouraged me to, which was fine at the start as GSCEs were easy, but as things got tougher the lack of studying really showed and I went from straight As to straight Bs to a 2:2.

Lots of people had thoughts on the ways in which their folks could have been just a little bit tougher on them, like these…

1.

‘I didn’t have any chores to do as they’d take care of absolutely everything in the house, and I didn’t really develop that yearning to help out because they’d never let me.

Learning curve was basically a wall when I moved out, most things are common sense but having to learn everything in the space of a few days was fun.’
–kunstlich

2.

‘My parents had an extremely relaxed attitude to dental care. Never made us brush or floss our teeth, or use mouthwash every night or morning, also never booked us regular dental appointments. So it wasn’t until I was in my teens/adult years that I truly learnt the importance of dental care. And now my teeth are fucked.’
–Usual_Confusion_6415

3.

‘Watching TV late, there is no way I should’ve been allowed to watch that first episode of Silent Witness in 1996, it was so graphic.’
–Tight-Principle-743

4.

‘How much screen time I was given and from an early age. I think I missed out on a lot of hobbies and opportunities when I was young because anything that wasn’t movies/video games didn’t engage me enough. I don’t blame my parents at all, they didn’t grow up with any kind of devices. I try to limit my own screen time now as an adult.’
–MapleHigh0

5.

‘My education. I was given the choice at 11 years old between going to the shitty comprehensive with my mates, or the grammar school where school work was hard. I left the comprehensive with zero GCSEs!’
–mcf74

6.

‘Learning German. My mum is Swiss. She sent me and siblings to a German tutor but because we hated it (of course we did. We were kids and this was after school) she gave up sending us so we never learnt.’
–Shitsinhandandclaps

7.

‘Mine didn’t teach me critical thinking. So I believed most things I read online. Or things people told me.’
–mindblownwendy

8.

‘Putting sun lotion/cream on. We used to go on a yearly holiday to Spain and I had some terrible sunburn including blistering when I was a child. I wish they’d reminded us more to put it on as I now have some hyperpigmentation on my face which I hate.

My mum had skin cancer on her back when I was in my teens and thankfully didn’t need any further treatment after having some skin removed, but it was a big scare for us all.’
–Wetkittennoses

9.

‘I just wish they were stricter in general. I believe my parents coddled me. I never had to do anything on my own so I never developed the confidence I needed to navigate the world. Causes me endless problems.’
–Allinallisallweare02

10.

‘Spending time with friends in my childhood. They could never ‘ground’ me, as I never went outside except school. I didn’t start socialising with my friends until around 15, I lost a lot of core, fundamental social skills development. As a man who’s almost 30, I’m still trying to catch up.’
–DescriptionFuture851

11.

‘Having some kind of ambition. My Mum just said ‘as long as you’re happy I’m happy’. Which I do really appreciate, when the opposite of that is unbearable pressure and unrealistic expectations. But some kind of guidance, and encouragement to explore different options in life that a 16 year old wouldn’t know about, would have been helpful. Although its possible she knew early on that I was a drifter!’
–charlytune

12.

‘Skincare. I wish I had been shown how to properly look after my skin.
–EvilPopeSister