What to Know
Being a parent feels like it keeps getting harder. The current generation of parents are dealing with things the generations before us didn’t have to: AI becoming a part of everyday life, a global recession that makes cost of living significantly higher while wages stay too low, and the constant battle of social media.
It’s not surprising that so many of us are totally burnt out. But Jo Frost, who is more commonly known as the Supernanny, thinks that too many parents are using those things as excuses for not stepping up to their parenting duties. And she thinks many parents are failing their kids by not teaching them basic life skills because it’s too hard
Someone shared her blunt message on Reddit.
The video was posted in the r/Fauxmoi community, and while Frost didn’t hold back, she wasn’t coming from a place of being mean.
“We are slowly disabling our children, and I don’t say that lightly,” Frost says. She shared that she is still actively working with families regularly and sees the ways parents are getting in the way of their kids’ development. According to Frost, the children are “capable, but not being taught.”
“We’re pushing children along on bikes instead of teaching them how to ride them, keeping children in strollers who should be walking, climbing, building strength. We’ve got four year olds still using dummies (pacifiers) when that was only ever meant to be a short term aid.”
She didn’t stop there, also calling out older children who can’t use a knife and fork and don’t understand proper bathroom hygiene.
“When did we stop these life skills?” she asks.
Jo Frost believes parents are lacking “intention.”
While Frost said that she understands that “modern life is busy,” she believes that this goes beyond simply not having enough hours in the day to get everything done. Ultimately, she believes that it’s a failure on the part of parents.
“Every time we step in and do it for them, or avoid teaching because it’s slower, messier, or inconvenient, we take away an opportunity for them to become capable. And children want to feel capable.”
Jo Frost told parents it’s time to “go back to basics.”
“We teach the bike riding with support, then without. We remove the dummy when it’s no longer needed.” She also demanded that parents “guide,” “teach,” and “expect” these skills from them, “not perfectly, consistently.”
“Independence isn’t something that just happens,” she explains. “It’s taught. And if we don’t teach it, we can’t be surprised when it’s missing.”
People overwhelmingly agreed with her.
“These parents are doing it to themselves, as well. It’s wild to see how many adults are choosing to depend on ChatGPT, despite its many failibilities, because they don’t want to think,” one person wrote. “How can parents raise skilled children when they aren’t interested in honing their own skills?”
“She’s exactly right and I hope people heed her words. Children are going to experience hardship and discomfort and pain and that’s ok because it’s part of life. A parent’s job, in part, is to help their child through that, as hard as it may be. And it guarantees your kid will never thrive or prosper or succeed. If you don’t want to do that, don’t have kids!”
“She is right, but the problem also extends to how many hours people are now working compared to before, wages being less so lower income families working multiple jobs, no socialized daycare in this country unlike other countries, and school hours that don’t even match parent’s basic working hours. This country doesn’t really care about children or families, but just having workers. Maybe if families could afford to raise their kids, they would.”
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