by A new survey has discovered that bad parents are unlikely to admit to being bad parents, when specifically asked if they are bad parents.
Website Netmums said its survey of 5,000 people suggested that parents tend to provide answers that put them in the best light possible when discussing their children.
A spokesperson said, “We felt pretty sure that mothers would tell the truth about how much TV their kids watch, no matter how bad it makes them look.”
“What we’ve discovered is that there is some sort of defence mechanism that appears in young parents, which kicks in at the point someone asks them if they’re a bit crap at being a parent.”
“It’s a stunning discovery, and one that will have profound effects on the way that we try and identify crap parents in future.”
“No longer will it be enough to simply ask, ‘Are you a bad parent?’. We will need to look for evidence and stuff.”
Netmums Bad Parent Survey
Parents groups have hit back at the survey, insisting that lying about how you look after your kids is an important tool in ensuring they don’t get taken away by Social Services.
As one unnamed parent told us, “I’m not a bad parent, all the abuse my kids get is passive. I don’t hit them, or scream at them – well not much. I just don’t spend very much time with them. Is that a crime? Hang on, seriously, is that a crime? I think I’d like to change my answers.”
A Netmums spokesperson concluded, “We will continue our ongoing investigations into child welfare, and our next report will ask what’s wrong with our education system when half of our children will end up with below average grades?”
