Back seat parenting

Tweet

This is a discussion about something that I like to call "back seat parenting". A back seat parent is someone who tries to direct you on what your kids should or shouldn't be doing even though they aren't the parent. Now I don't mind when a friend or family member wants to give advice about certain things, or give an opinion, or even if they're watching your child and are telling them not to get into something they shouldn't. But what really irks me is when I'm standing right there with my child and someone indirectly makes a comment about what I should or shouldn't be letting my child do, or play with, or eat. I know some of you might say it's no big deal, but to me it is. When I'm walking through the store and my child doesn't have a coat on because it's warm in there, and before I even get close to the door someone walks up and starts telling my child (that's where the indirect part comes from) "shouldn't you be wearing a coat, it's way too cold for you to not have one" Or if I gave my kid a toy or something random to play with and a friend tells me he shouldn't be playing with that because they wouldn't let theirs. Grr, to me that's like telling me I'm a bad parent. I consider myself to be quite a good parent, I never let my child play with anything dangerous, I don't let him eat anything that I know would make him sick or be harmful to him in anyway, but I always remember the fact that he's a kid, and kids do things that some adults wouldn't. I may have only been a parent for a year and a half, but I KNOW how to raise my child safely. So, time for the discussion...who of you out there have had this happen to you, what kind of things were said to you, how did you feel about it, and what (if anything) have you done about it.