Pro Tip: Most Parenting Advice Is Utter Nonsense

Viral video makes fun of all the ridiculous advice we get

A few years ago I read an article somewhere about the importance of never telling a child he’s “smart.” Apparently, they “develop vulnerability around relinquishing that label.” Huh? Okay, so now it’s bad parenting to tell your kid he’s smart. Just add this to the list of ridiculous directives you’ve gotten since you’ve become a parent:

Don’t yell, but don’t ignore. Don’t make them several meals, but don’t tell them to finish their dinner. Don’t co-sleep, but don’t let them cry too much. Don’t put any emphasis on their looks, but make sure they look put together at school. The list goes on and on and on… and it’s really about time someone made fun of it.

Enter Laurel Coppock, Molly Erdman, and Megan Grano: the brains behind the YouTube channel, The Break Womb. They are pros at making fun of the ridiculous parts of parenting. This time, they’re showing us how inane some of the advice floating around the momosphere is.

You guys, I’m really upset. I was a terrible mom today. I told Valerie she was pretty.

Oh no! Didn’t you get that article I sent you?

Yeah Molly! Don’t you want her to love her for her whole self and not just her outer shell?

“We came up with it based on the seemingly endless clickbait-y blogs and articles about “The One Thing You Should Never Say To Your Child” and things like that,” Erdman told Scary Mommy. “I definitely find myself second guessing any compliment I give my daughter, wondering what lasting damage I’m doing to her.”

Well, don’t feel too bad because last night I told Anthony “good job” for finishing his dinner.

Megan, come on. I sent you that link to that video. It’s a brief 90 minutes. Make the time.

You’re going to ruin his relationship with food for the rest of his life!

Well, I think I fixed it, after dinner I flipped the whole table over and yelled at the whole family, “Terrible job eating!”

“I think the most annoying advice I’ve been given is: don’t tell your kid to “hurry up,” Erdman says. “Um, have you ever tried to get a toddler out the door? Do you live in a world where nothing happens at a specific time?”

The other day I told Valerie to hurry up, and now she has no sense of time and she’s stopped sleeping.

Well I told Tomothy not to touch his poop, and now he thinks there’s something wrong with what came out of his body and he hates himself.

Moral of the story: take all advice with a grain of salt. It’s impossible (and ridiculous) to try to follow it all.