Poll: Do you think you would be a better parent than your own parents?

[Tallim]

I'm not really that nurturing towards kids, so I don't think I'd be better than them. I do feel like I am more in tune with the way people feel and the way my actions affect others, though.

For example, my mom knocks on my door when she enters...but she does it by knocking and then immediately opening the door after less than a second. It seems fairly obvious to me that isn't exactly respecting my privacy in any way as it sort of nullifies the purpose of the knock, but apparently that hasn't quite occurred to her. My dad is better at it, he'll knock and won't enter until I respond.

I just sort of think of things like that way, and I'm always putting (or at least trying to put) myself in other people's shoes. I think that is an important thing for a parent to do--be aware of how your child perceives your actions and words.

The knocking thing I sort of understand depending on your age. It's not a coincidence that your mother will knock then immediately enter and your father waits......

But if you feel it's a problem then talk to your mother about it.

 

[chaosbedlam]

I would like to say yes purely because dumping your only child in front of a TV and Sega Master System all day while you go and do god knows what isn't really parenting in my opinion. but thinking about it i turned out OK, learnt all my morals from Scooby-Do... and double dragon.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Well I don't know if beating your kids with snooker cues, leather belts and scrubbing their skin off with a brillo pad is good parenting but I think anyone I have a baby with will be a better father than my dad was. Although my mum did marry early, because like Phasmal said, back then it was the "thing" to do when you got a woman knocked up, so she didn't spend much time getting to know him.

I'll hopefully be with someone for a few years before I have a baby with him. I hope he'd stick around and we can stay together though. I probably won't be as good as my mum, at least not at first.
She did more for me than I can ever thank her for, somehow managed to work nights, get home in time to take me to school, clean the house and cook for us, pick me up and help me with homework and look after us.
She is incredibly soft though, my sister is forever "borrowing" money and dumping her kids on her whenever she feels like it. I think I'll be a tougher parent but still quite soft.

Probably after a few years I'll get better at the whole parenting thing.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I feel this video is relevant:
To answer the poll, I sincerely doubt I'll have children.

 

[Frission]

No. My parents are great people. I'm appreciating it far more now.

I don't know how they dealt with me.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

My parents are great, I'm fairly sure I'd do a worse job.

 

[bojackx]

I'm not sure which answer to go for, since I seem to be in a similar situation to the OP. It'd be pretty damn hard to surpass my mother in parenting, but I reckon I'll make a better father than my father does. My father isn't particularly bad, but we never spend any time together and we have no interest in doing so anyway, because we like opposite things.

 

[WaysideMaze]

Better than my mum? No idea. She's fantastic, so I'd like to think I'd at least live up to her standards.

Better than my dad? A lion would've been better than that useless bastard.

 

[Broady Brio]

I'll strive to be less dorky than these clowns I call my parents. As for better? I don't think so.

 

[ultrachicken]

Probably not. My parents are a hell of a lot more patient than I am and have an astonishing ability to subtly correct a child's wrong ways without encountering much resistance. Well, at least with me. My brother is a bit of a mess.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I hope so, I think so too. My parents care about me as a son, but they don't really care about me as a person. I mean, my dad claimed he had no idea what to get me for my birthday. One glance in my room reveals four big planks filled with books, movies, games and comics that reveal what I like pretty damn well.

Sadly they just don't give a shit. But I plan on being interested in my kid as a person as well.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I doubt it.
I only have one parent and she's pretty amazing. She basically put her own life on hold to raise me. We have our fights, obviously, but she sacrificed a lot to make sure I had everything I needed and went to the right schools and then university. She made sure I worked hard and still helps when I can't make ends meet.
I don't think I'd be able to be as selfless as my Mom has been/still is.

 

[Klumpfot]

If I'm even present in my kid's life, I'll probably be a better father than mine, whom I've never met.

 

[Trucken]

Oh God no. Even though I've complained about my parents I have to say that they were good at what they were doing. I can only hope that I'd be able to do the job as good as them, but I'm pretty damn sure I won't be able to.

 

[Nietz]

I honestly don't know. Me and my parents(and in proxy my sister) had a complicated relationship growing up. Now that I'm older and (a little bit) wiser, I see how hard it was for them to actually raise us. I was kind of a lousy kid growing up, so my parents pretty much gave up on me and pooled all their resources onto my sister(which turned out fine, she's a doctor now), and as much as I dislike what they did, I can kind of understand it. They never knew me, I never knew them, and neither of us wanted to try to get closer to each other. We have worked on our relationship now that I've grown up, but the scars will probably be there for a long time.

This leads me to believe that raising children is pretty much a crap-shoot(am I using that one right?). If you're lucky, and but some effort into it, it'll turn out fine. But no one really knows until it's too late.

I also have the burden of being an educated teacher, so I guess that's going to affect my child as it grows up, and probably not in a good way.

 

[mihajelko]

You cant be a better parent ... or a worse one. Your parenting methods will just be a tad different, thats all.

 

[Xaio30]

Yeah, I think I will be better.
I remember what my parents did right and wrong, so I simply change what they did wrong and voila!

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I had terrific parents, I don't know if I'll ever be able to live up to the standards they set. Certainly right now if I suddenly became a father I wouldn't be able to compare.