THE BLACK [DAD] LIST: HOLIER THAN THOU PARENTS
This week I was rubbed the wrong way by a parent. I’m not sure why this person bothered me so much, but he did. Instead of being pissed about it, I decided to be have a little fun with it. The result is THE BLACK [DAD] LIST. I’m black listing nouns (people, places, things, ideas) from a dads point of view. I hope to do this kind of thing regularly, but I’m not making any promises.
Here’s why I chose to Black [Dad] List “holier than thou” parents:
5. They think their kids walk on water. OK maybe they do (there are some really sweet kids out there) but you shouldn’t make other parents feel like they drew the short straw by rubbing it in. We all work with, and love, our kids so let’s be more supportive.
4. They think they have the parenting thing perfected. No one is perfect. Didn’t their mothers and fathers tell them that? Even fabulous parents have moments where they question their decisions. Stop being so cocky!
3. They dole out advice with a heaping helping of judgment. This is supposed to be reserved for mother-in-laws, not your parenting peers. There is nothing worse than hearing “my kid would never do that, but you should try XY and Z to address it.” If your kid never did it, how can you give advice on how to address it?
2. They can’t admit when they screwed up. Don’t make excuses, make a resolution to handle it better next time. Plus, kids don’t know when you’ve screwed up anyway, which says to me that there is no reason to be uptight about it. This one is not limited to parenting.
1. They lie about how their kids don’t watch TV. But if you play the theme song to Dora, Blues Clues, Elmo’s World, the Wiggles, or even Scooby Doo their kid will start singing and dancing like everyone else’s. There’s nothing wrong with a little TV.
“Holier Than Thou” parents, consider yourselves Black [Dad] Listed.
Posted: August 19th, 2007 under THE BLACK [DAD] LIST.
Comments: 8
Comments
Comment from Yolanda
Time: August 19, 2007, 8:24 pm
The Black [Dad] List is very much needed!!! Great post, I can already think of a few people that need this list forwarded to them 
Comment from whit
Time: August 20, 2007, 3:50 am
Yeah, other parents suck.
Well, not all of them, but those traits do.
Comment from Nerd Girl
Time: August 20, 2007, 8:59 am
Nice! I had someone tell me just the other day “when I have kids I’ll never let them watch TV.” Yeah honey, I thought the same thing. Then I had one. God bless the Backyardigans!!!
Comment from tom
Time: August 20, 2007, 10:41 am
lol. my brother is writing a book called “Why I Hate Other Parents”. For myself, I always say that every parent belongs to the Church of Raising Kids My Way.
Comment from Terell
Time: August 20, 2007, 11:22 am
More good stuff. I would say I am guilty of 5, 4 & 3. I think I spend to much time processing and talking about my screw ups and I fully admit that I was a TV baby. Its unamerican to be other wise! 
Comment from Latimer Williams
Time: August 21, 2007, 9:55 am
LOL, I love it, this is great and I will send this to my wife. We just had a friend who always use to say how her kids would NEVER do some of the things our kids did and come to find out her kids were far worse.
Just goes to show even with kids some people try to put on a fake image when it comes to their kids and their parenting skills.
We all make mistakes with parenting, my father use to say this is the hardest job in the world being a parent. It dont come with a set of instructions
Comment from Taiwan
Time: August 22, 2007, 2:00 pm
I am new to the site and I love what you have going here.
As a new, first time father, it is becoming very clear there is a lot I do not know. As my son grows older I really want to avoid number 5. I have seen so many kids act a natural fool when their parent are not around! And the parents swear it’s never their kids.
Well, fatherhood will defintely be a journey. I look forward to it. Thanks for the blog AAD!
Comment from cynthia
Time: September 5, 2007, 5:41 am
hi,
love your blog, even though i’m one of those insufferable parents on your black [dad] list! guilty of #5 and sometimes #1….really really try not to be #s 2, 3, and 4. my son’s also four-ish (turns 4 in november). what an amazing age.
keep up the good work,
cynthia
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