‘What did you judge other parents for before you had kids?’ – 21 people who had zero clue what was about to happen to them

However much we claim otherwise, we’re all a bit judgemental, something that is definitely true when watching other people parent their children. And there are none so critical as those who don’t have any yet.

However, these people tumble off their high horses pretty quickly when their first baby arrives.

They’ve been discussing this on the UKParenting subreddit after KeyElk7462 asked ‘What did you judge other parents for before you had kids?’ and shared their own naive critiques…

I always find the responses to this question absolutely hilarious. We all were the perfect parents before we became parents. I’ll start:

My kids are 8 and 4. Before they were born, I used to judge parents who told their kids small white lies. I used to say that I thought it was wrong for parents to lie to their kids in any way shape or form…this morning my son asked to go to the park, so I told him the park is closed.

Seems fair enough to us. And lots of other people chipped in with their own experiences of being humbled by the arrival of their children, like these…

1.

‘Kids not dressed appropriately for the weather. I have a child who quite happily removes their coat insisting they don’t need it.’
–Bluerose1000

2.

‘Co sleeping. I absolutely wasn’t going to co sleep, my baby was going to magically sleep in his cot every single night.

My first humbled me and we soon started co sleeping, the second I didn’t bat an eye lid and was in bed with me the day we brought him home.’
–PurpleUnicorn434

3.

‘Kids having a tantrum in Tesco’s. I was humbled very fast when I had to carry my then two year old out like a rugby ball one day because I said she couldn’t take stuff out of other peoples trolleys.’
–TroublesomeFox

4.

‘Mine was having a meltdown in Asda once and some passing teenagers said “Omg, I’m never having kids.”‘
–Odd_Pear7617

5.

‘Screens. Not the Wall E fucks who can’t go shopping without being glued to the screen but the it’s 5am I’m feeding a baby and the toddler is up. Yep we’re gonna hit 4 hours screen time by 10am.’
–tiorzol

6.

‘I used to roll my eyes at my sister when I would be chasing her to get some social plans in place and she would say ‘I’m sorry, I’ve not had a moment to sit and discuss with husband’. Now I get it.’
–Fair_Imagination_91

7.

‘Giving them McDonalds.’
–Armagideon3000

8.

‘Almost everything I do now or have done in the last 10 years!

Kid on an iPad in the pub – they are happy and wife and I get to chat. We are with her all day every day she isn’t being neglected! Fish fingers for tea… again – sorry all out of pesto and kale today. Kids in dirty clothes – they weren’t 45 minutes ago! Ditto for dirty faces.

Kids screaming – having a neurodivergent kid made me understand that meltdowns can happen for no obvious reason.’
–Monkeyboogaloo

9.

‘Oh yeah I was such a self righteous cow. I always loved kids so I didn’t understand how people (my mum) could lose their patience with those curious adorable inquisitive lovelies.

What a wake up call that was.’
–Cherimbba

10.

‘Toddlers throwing public tantrums for sure, I used to look at them thinking, I ain’t raising no child like that. Oh how I have been humbled, sweet lord have mercy.’
–Still-Status7299

11.

‘Breastfeeding for ‘too long’ – I breastfed mine til they were 2, lol.’
–Express-Nerve-8179