According to new research, parents make around 4,000 mistakes until their kid moves out of the house. The top recognized mishaps were allowing children too much screen time (65%), accidentally teaching them swear words (42%), and letting them watch things that are not age appropriate (39%).
The study also showed that children are considered the most difficult to handle at age 6 and that the youngest are the most likely to cause trouble. Surprisingly, at the same time, half of parents said their youngest child was their favorite (among those who admitted having a preference).
Some parents would agree to sacrifice quite a bit in order to have a perfectly behaved child. Three in 10 of them declared they would be ready to give up social media, 30% of them wine, and 26% Netflix, for example, to reach this goal.
When seeking parenting advice, 42% of the surveyed parents said they turn first to their partner, 41% to their mother, and 31% to other parents. And regarding the technology, 17% of them declared utilizing the internet and almost 10% of them social media to look for parenting information.
Despite all the resources available, only 12% of participants felt "very prepared" and 44% "somewhat prepared" when they first became a parent. 50% of them were most surprised by the lack of sleep new parents get, 37% by how hard it can be to get a baby to fall asleep, and 31% by the amount of stuff a child comes with.
Finally, regarding the most popular parenting methods, 54% of parents think that the "authoritative" parenting style is the most effective. (The authoritative parenting style is characterized by warm responsiveness, reasonable demands, in addition to a fair discipline with some clear limits to respect).
Picture: Alan learning to swim (ChildUp.com)
