“Yep, Those Are Bad Parents”: 30 Signs Of Bad Parenting, According To Members Of This Online Group

Heard a mother say to her little girl, “Shut up! I hate your voice.”

When I hear fathers telling boys to stop crying like a girl. F**k you - men are allowed emotions too you know. I don't think a lot of people realise how damaging that kind of attitude is for the mental health of men in general.

When you see their kids in beauty pageants.

Parents who don't believe that their children are bullies.

Parents who won't let their sons do anything remotely feminine.

I stopped working retail at clothing stores because I couldn’t stand the way parents talk to, especially, young teenage girls. As someone who struggled with mental illness/eating disorders for a long time, there were so many times I wanted to intervene when a parent said their kid looked horrible in something they were really excited to try on.

I got my revenge this summer tho. There was a teenage girl showing her mom these cute overall shorts and begging the mom to let her get them (they were one of the more expensive items in the store) and her mom just kept saying no, you look ridiculous, you look like a toddler, you look like a train conductor, etc. I approached the girl and said they looked good as hell and if it makes her feel good she should get them and wear them always.

I hate when parents don’t realize how severely their negativity can impact their kids.

When they don't realize that their kid (no matter how small) is a full person with their own feelings and instincts and journeys in life and just dismiss anything about their kids that they don't understand or want to be true

Infanilising children. Kids are not stupid. They know what's up. Also parents who rule by fear, you can see it when the kids flinch too easy

I was having lunch in McDonald's one time and heard a mother scold her very obese 4 year old to "finish his mayonnaise".

All judgement aside, I was eating there to. But maybe don't force a kid to eat mayonnaise.

Parents who dismiss their child's emotions

If your kid is dirty. And I don't just mean juice on their face or some grass stains on their clothes. I mean when the child has obviously not been bathed in days/weeks.

Also, if a child has bad manners and the parents do nothing to correct them. You are raising rude and inconsiderate people.

Your child's school has a costume day with the theme "dress as your favourite character from your favourite book". The other kids come as Winne the Pooh and Harry Potter and Anne of Green Gables.

Not your kid.

Your kid comes as Mr Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey.

You ARE a s****y parent.

child is sweet smart and extremely hard working but has ADHD. The child does her best in school but does not do well because she just does not learn the way they teach. She is constantly grounded while siblings who get similar grades but have no learning disability are not. This girl is reading constantly and is great in English and history, basically rewrites her siblings english papers. But because she struggles in Maths and sciences she is seen as good as her siblings. This child is constantly put down and her dreams discouraged because she's not "good" enough in school to succeed.

I used to work in a discount variety store. This unwashed, often barefoot woman would often come in with her kids. I thought she was nice enough, until one day her daughter innocently asks if she can buy a lolly, and the mum went OFF. Screamed at this 7 year old kid about how they can't afford it, and I'm not lying, she called her child a c**t. Screamed the word. In public. Her kids were always so well mannered, but they were usually dirty. I felt so bad for them.

Went to a farm/corn maze last week and got to witness a man yelling at his ~5 or so year old child for crying. He made him sit in the corner of this barn and kept screaming "JUST STOP CRYING" every 2 minutes. He eventually got up with him, dragged him by his arm and screamed and sweared in his face less than an inch away. I don't know what this kid did or why he was so mad but f**k dude, yelling in their face like that especially in public is just disgusting

When I hear them talk to elementary age kids like adults...

“Oh you have it tough!? Well f**k. I worked a s****y day and had to come home to you!”

My neighbors

About eight years ago I worked at a summer camp and had a nine year old girl in my group, she was tall for her age and skinny like a lot of 9 year old girls, really pretty girl. But she would stop herself from doing normal things like eating s'mores and say things alluding to the fact that at home her mother calls her fat (she's no where near it) and restricts her diet.

It broke my heart. She hadn't even hit puberty and was a charming girl and she was being bullied by her own mother. I spent my week coming up with an outline of things to report to CPS. Not that they could really take her away, but a paper trail is worth it if things ever got worse for the girl.

I really hope that girl has turned out alright. She didn't deserve that.

When they passively tell their kids "no" but don't actually do anything to stop it when the kid misbehaves. One of my neighbor's kids is like this, and I hate having her over because her mother just lets her wreak havoc.

Parents who bring little kids to R rated or inappropriate movies. It's s****y on multiple levels.

Seeing fizzy drinks in baby's or toddler's bottles makes my teeth itch. They don't need the sugar or the caffeine, or simply that much non milk fluid

Edit: there's a few comments asking what kind of drinks I mean. The incident that inspired this was an 8 monthish old with a cola type drink, ie high acid and high sugar, plus caffeine. Carbonated water is different but may have a weird pH so it's worth checking the label imho. Plus heavily gassed liquids are not ideal on anyone's stomach.