h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Parenting - how did we do? - A14410063
Author: Trillian's Child - U154942

Hi - Trillian's Child here. I wanted to put this entry in the Underguide, because in my opinion it is not EG material, not being factual. However, I first submitted it to the post, and they, as well as reknowned scouts/subeditors have told me that this sort of thing does appear in the Guide.

Now it's in the serious part (PR!), I've had a look to see which entries are also available on the subject and am vaguely convinced that the topic hasn't, in this way, been covered so far.

I look forward to everyone's comments.

I must admit, throughout its life, the eldest child is always the one that is the experiment for parenting

It would be wonderful to see links in your entry and I do like the quote you've used

I like it, TC - and I'll get my sons to answer at least some of the questions

>>during the 20 years of bringing up your kids<<

Twenty years? That's if you've only got two. My parents have been at it for nearly 30 already, and they've got a good 5 years to go.

You may like to use these

A619814 Being a Non-residential or Single Parent
A180226 Parenthood
A112276 Children
A421255 20 Guidelines for Raising a Child
A930296 Answers to Children's Questions
A203734 Diapers
A596081 How to Teach your Kids the Facts of Life
A139457 cows

Yes - I realise that, now it's a candidate for the EG, I'll have to include some links.

When I was subed I considered it my main job to ferret out entries to link to the entries I was editing - I don't know if they do that these days. I'll see how I can fit them in. My searches found lots of other entries which also apply.

It's still our job, but it makes things easer if some suitable links are already added.

i've got all this to look forward to!

as i've never had children i can't really say too much, but i can't help thinking that as long as you think you've done a good job at parenting then you'll be alright, as soon as you want comfirmation you begin to loose confidence - as with anything.

SP

But you can try to answer those questions yourself - in regard to your childhood and your parents

mmmmmmm, maybe i missed the point.
i just assumed that the questionaire was for parents.

The questionnaire is - on the face of it - for children to answer to the parents. But its more practical application, as children will be unwilling to answer the questions, is for parents to read and see what they think their children might answer.

I certainly don't want to scare people into thinking they have made a mess of bringing up their children. Ideally, young parents should have thought about these things at the beginning.

There was no one around to help me decide on my strategies when my kids were young, so I'd like to give my kids a little indirect guidance for when they're ready to start a family.

Instinct is all very well, but if we think back to our own childhoods we can perhaps see the child's point of view and might do one or two things differently from the start. Instead of basing decisions on instinct, we can decide on the basis of experience. Neither basis is wrong or unnecessary, but they should complement each other.

This is really interesting

I think this is right on the cusp between the underguide and the edited guide, and it's certainly worth thinking about this going into the edited guide.

I think in order to tilt this towards the guide a bit more that the quotes from researchers will have to go in in a slightly different format - probably unattributed, I'd have thought. ('as one researcher put it' or something).

Might it also be worth saying something about parents (where there are parents) comparing their own experiences of being 'parented' as part of preparation for being parents?

Thanks for your comments, Otto. At what point could I include a line or two to cover what you suggest in the last paragraph?

I am still unsure about it being Edited Guide - it's more of a talking point, really. But I've debated that with myself and have had enough support for putting it forward.

It's not supposed to state any facts, just make people think, or at least give them some points to think on. And probably the people who would profit most are new parents or parents-to-be, although on the face of it, it's addressed to "parents-that-were", which is rather pointless really - locking the stable door after the has bolted and so on.

Hi TC,
I thought this was an intersting read and I see no reason why it should'nt be in the EG.

In light of recent discussions elsewhere about type and style of entries being put forward this is not a fictional piece nor is it hearsay. It certainly starts a debate which means it's achieved the goal of being interesting and informative.

with appropriate links to other sites on parenting I think you should carry on with this piece.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/
http://www.parentlineplus.org.uk/

There's a couple of links may be of some use.

ST.

TC, where are you with this one? Can you just add the links and change the references/quotes of researchers as suggested by Otto?

Bel

Oh. OK. I thought it was finished. Happy to oblige ...

Ooh, great.

Right, I've added the links and a bit about people just starting out on parenthood finding some guidelines in the points made in the questions.

I'm afraid I've been a bit lazy and only added the links suggested by optical illusion, as they were all very pertinent and jolly good.

Steve Paul's comment n Post 9 made me think. Do you think I should include that thought somewhere? Or is it implied- for example in the quote I give.