Do you think parenting courses should be mandatory? I do

I think it is a great idea. But in a free country, I doubt we will ever see it. Some of these people should get them, as I don't have a clue how they manage to be parents without brains in their heads.

I wish everyone who was going to be a parent WOULD take a class about parenting and living in the real world as a parent. Maybe then it wouldn't be such a surprise to people about the lack of sleep and how hard it is to function with very little sleep. I think the lack of sleep was my daughter's biggest problem when she had her babies. At least that's what she said.

I don't think it will work if it became mandatory. But I guess it is a good thing if the government make it as an elective before graduating high school.

i have to agree with you, some people have no idea when comes to parenting. im not a partnet but i am working with kids so i know some basics but there is also a lot that i dont know, and the things i do know how have helped me so much so when i do have kids that its all going to help. these courses could also be done like every so often and books handed out (for free) to parents and expecting parents to read at home as well.

I do agree i mean i learned so much in aprenting class that helped me in the long run where i would have been sop scared with out them i know parenting comes naturally . But it gave me help when i di not know what to do and if i didnt take that class i would have benn stomp .They also help you know wha your child to give t and all like you cant give honey until 2 or whole milk till 1 and stuff i did not know. Parenting classes also help out financially i mean they give you stuff to help my class gave a pack of diapers and wipes every week that i went and other stuff so i did not have to buy all of tha and with out that class i would not be the good parent i am today with both of my children and all. s o yes i thuink that you should have to take a parenting class with atleast your first child and all.

Perhaps a test? lol too bad pregnancies happen so easily. It just wouldn't be very practical. I do believe they have classes like that available. If they got them to be more easily accessed that would probably help. The people with the baby that was malnourished must not have been listening to their dr. because they do advise you on that sort of thing.

It's agood idea in theory, but there is one major flaw. Who really takes an interest in something they are forced to do? People by nature tend to do what they have to to get by in situations where they are forced into something without putting the effort in to really pay attention and value the experience. In high school we had parenting classes, I didn't want to take it but it was an easy grade, needless to say I killed my "egg baby" in a day.

I think you're right, babykay! I think people who are going to have children should have a mandatory course in parenting to go to. I don't care if this seems to infringe upon what people call 'basic rights' to make their own decisions, either, because people who want to have kids (or who have unwanted kids) aren't making just their own decisions. They are making decisions for helpless infants and later on, toddlers - then children, then teenagers, then young adults, then finally - suggestions to adult children. In the midst of (particularly) North American voices shouting about 'our' or 'my rights,' I distinctly hear a lot of children crying, as well... Children who have been beaten because their parents weren't ready for the responsibility and natural stresses of coping with the needs of children... Children wailing because they can't figure out why their stomachs have pains and they don't even realize that they haven't had food in their stomach for 5 or 6 days... Children who are crying because they burned themselves or fell down or banged their body parts and need a doctor, except that the parents aren't paying attention and think that their children are just being 'difficult' so they are sent to their rooms... Children who are crying because they are frightened about life, in general, but their parents treat them like they are 'retarted,' 'unthinking' people instead of realizing that fears can be greatly allayed by words...and that children DO UNDERSTAND a lot if only things are explained. What do you hear where you're at?