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

[Hunter65416]

My mother was a great parent but my dad was fairly lousy so im pretty determined that I will be a better father than he was just through my observation of life with him. If I was a girl I dont think I could really hope to be a better mother than mine was though.

 

[SaetonChapelle]

I HOPE, and the key word here is hope, to be a better parent than my mother. In fact I'm 100% sure that even if I was deaf dumb and blind I would be a better parent. However I can't be sure I'd ever be as good as my father. He dedicates his entire life into making sure my brother and I will live comfortably and be happy, even if it doesn't always make us happy.

I hope to one day be a good parent to my children, and not lock them in a closet so I can spend hours upon hours playing video games. No Guarantee though. Gotta have priorities.

 

[Kae]

Doubtful, I can't stand people too much and I'm terrible at giving advice, not to mention I tend to be very cold and distant, things like that make it unlikely that I would be a good parent, and well my parents weren't bad, so yeah I'd most likely be worse, but considering the fact that I'm kind of afraid of getting intimate[small](In all meanings of that word)[/small] with anyone it's very unlikely that I will be a parent, still since life is unpredictable and there is no way I can know what's going to happen my answer is "Probably worse", I mean I find it impossible to display affection to people, I don't even think I've ever told someone that I liked them, so I'm fairly sure the child would have some issues, I'm also very aloof and tend not to pay attention to anything, even when I got lit on fire I didn't notice until someone dropped a bucket on me, so yeah...

After thinking about it, not only would I be worse, I would be an awful parent, cold, distant, thinks showing feelings makes you weak, thinks needing help makes you weak, doesn't talk well with people, my only friend is a one sided relationship, by which I mean she talks to me and visits me, but I only respond and never contact her or call her or anything, when someone's crying it exasperates me and I have to leave the room, probably wouldn't be able to hold a relationship since I don't like it when people know me, eh, I just sound like I'd be an AWFUL parent, but at least I don't drink, that hast to count for something, right?
I just remembered, I also don't react to danger which must be horrible for taking care of young children, gets in trouble with bad people, always confident that he's going to be all right no matter what the situation is, yeah I'd definitely would be an awful parent, at this point it probably should be illegal for me to have kids, though to be fair it's not something that I'm close to doing, or even trying.

 

[Phasmal]

Yes, because I hope to be better prepared than my parents were.
My parents got married because my mum got pregnant with my big sister and that's `just what you did`.
I honestly don't think they were at all prepared. It would be easy for me to poke holes in the way I was bought up (some of it was silly, dangerous or just plain messed up), but I think everyone has to remember that your parents are just people. Kids don't come with an instruction manual.

Also, my mother has issues with depression which I hopefully have not inherited, so, I will be better in that way, but it's not something I can hold against her.

And hopefully my kids will have a dad that sticks around but that's not really up to me.

 

[Ljs1121]

I don't really see my dad much but he's pretty cool when I do get to talk to him. My mom, on the other hand, has single-handedly cared for and watched over me every waking moment of my life for almost sixteen years now. I may not agree with her viewpoints on political/religious matters, but the day I say she's a bad parent is the day Hell freezes over.

I don't think I could be a better parent than my mom no matter how hard I tried.

 

[Porygon-2000]

I think i'd be a... different sort of parent than my parents were. I'm not if I would be "better" or "worse" than they were, but I turned out alright (if a bit more fabulous than intended), so they weren't by any means bad parents. The only problem I foresee is having kids in the first place, due again to this fabulousness.

 

[Hunter65416]

My dad though... He just... doesn't interact with me and my brother all that much. Used to more when we were younger. But eh... he's there but just... he's not very involved.

Thats exactly what my dad was like.. I think it was because he knew he did such subpar job for so long and thought it was too late to change after all that time.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

The only problem I foresee is having kids in the first place, due again to this fabulousness.

I understand, it can be pretty hard having kids inbetween all the sweet dance parties, glitter, fashion, and big musical numbers. I don't know how any of the other fabulous people find the time to accomplish anything with their day.

My parents are great, but I hope to be an even better parent than them.

 

[FalloutJack]

Since you ask, yes. I think that I am better material as a parent than my own. I don't believe their methods really helped, as my general line of thinking has always been that their methods led me to hate them, not respect them. Failure to harber proper understanding in their offspring, I deny their ways and decide to think on my own. This generally does not lead me astray.

People say on one side that you shouldn't hit your child. Then, another side says that sometimes you really need to to get them to behave. I'm of the mind that, like in politics, either extreme is too much. There has to be a middle-ground. A beating, an actual beating, just breeds resentment. I should know. A lack of any of it, though, can lead to spoiling and no amount of reasonability in the kis. The right way to me seems to be that you have to get rough, but you don't go fucking overboard.

Do you know what a kid learns from a solid beating? Trauma or hatred, or both. The trauma is that you've whipped them into submission so now they're afraid to act out of line NOT because of what's right and decent, but because of the fear of beating. This is wrong, and god damn the ones who belt their kids over grades. As for the hatred...trust me on this. I speak from experience. When I was younger, my mother was practically abusive, to the point where this was how she handled most disagreements. Too bad I hit the point where I could just demand her to hit me more and feel nothing of it.

There was this one time with this plank in the basement. Fucker BROKE in mid-swing! I laughed. The point I'm getting at with the hatred is that the kid can harber feelings of anger and resentment for years and some of them will just snap, and the worst cases will have to be those who derive pleasure from the parents losing the upper-hand, to know with sadistic glee that the abusive folks will be helpless before him in their later years. Mwa ha ha ha haa...

And it is from coming out in one piece and getting some fucking perspective on what a parent SHOULD BE that I determine myself okay to raise a kid. Now then...will somebody do something about the state of the world so that it's appropriate TO raise a kid in?

 

[Lilani]

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.

 

[Porygon-2000]

I don't know how any of the other fabulous people find the time to accomplish anything with their day.

Oh, Lord yes! I can only post in between shows at the moment, my schedule is so packed between my Priscilla cosplays and my interior design classes and goodness knows what else! Having a child would just be irresponsible!

 

[Mirroga]

I think that every good or disciplined person would try to outdo or be better than their parents' parenting. It's pretty much an evolutionary or natural instinct for us to never do what our parents did wrong and do what our parents never did as parents.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Well my mother is great. Bringing me, a load of trouble, up by herself with only her own mother at her side must have been pretty tough, and all things considered, she did alright. I respect my father as well, even though I never knew him as he left just before I was born. The reason he left, is because he had a hell of a lot of problems, and he didn't want the shitty things of his life to influence me and ruin my own, so he left, which I'm sure was quite tough on him. So I even consider him strong in that regard.

As for if I'd be better. I never actually plan on being a parent, so I can't say for sure. One reason for that, is I don't think I'd be father-material. So that by itself should tell you something.

 

[feeback06]

Well, I would consider my mother a great parent if it weren't for her substance abuse issues. She always made me feel special, even though I still don't think she understands me as a person. My father has fixed his anger issues which caused me to fear him as a child, but he never struck out of rage or for no reason. I felt like I was never good enough in his eyes however, since whenever my step-mother would berate me he would never come to my aid.

I like to think I can do better than both of them. I don't have any substance abuse issues, and I think I can pull off a caring but firm attitude.

 

[sky14kemea]

Hahahahaa, no.

My mum's pretty damn awesome, though she won't admit it.

My dad was, ehh... He wasn't awful, he was just a tad inattentive. He still showed that he loved me and my bro, though.

I feel I'd be quite an inattentive parent, or too protective. Or switching constantly between the two.

 

[EHKOS]

I hope I can be the cool dad. Although I don't know if he'll have a mother because I'm definitely adopting. My genes are horrible and would cause nothing but pain if I reproduced.

 

[deserteagleeye]

My Dad is really awesome but my mother is just horrible. I honestly think that everything she tried to intill into me would just make my life harder. I would be an okay dad, but only for 1 child. No way in hell am I going to have more than one kid if I can avoid it.
Captcha: one hit wonder
That's relevant enough.

 

[Tallim]

I don't know if I can do it better as such but so far I'm doing very well. My daughter just turned 3 and she is pretty fantastic. Already got good manners and is fiercely independent (which can be a big source of contention between us at times.)

Sadly being a good parent is quite often at odds with being a "fun" parent. Children test boundaries a lot and you do need to put your foot down.

Half those things you said you'd never do when you become a parent? You'll do them. Obviously this statement doesn't apply to general insane stuff that is genuinely bad parenting.