What's the WORST piece of parenting advice you ever received?

√v^√v^√♥ - posted on 05/12/2011

Wow, how hard did you hit Tiff? Bruises......... geez.

Worst advice? 'Your son is eating WAY too much' when he was born, he ate like crazy.. had a few problems and the doctors said we were over feeding him. Problem is, when he'd cry he would be legitamatly hungry and all we could do is feed him some and wait a few minutes to give him the rest. Afterall, if you read breastfeeding websites, 'kids know when they aren't hungry' and yet formula we have this strict rule 'only 2 oz when they're born, 4 later..... blah blah blah' well guess what, Doc. It doesn't work nor make logical sense. And now at 6 months, they aren't worried about his weight and he's the size of a 1 year old, if not bigger wearing 2T clothing. I think he's just biiiiiiiiiiig :)

Liz - posted on 05/12/2011

Her idea of raising a child: call your daughters "sluts" and "whores" from an early age to discourage the habit (her oldest now sleeps with anything that has 2 legs). Call your sons "stupid" and "cowards" when they stick up for themselves and tell you to butt out of their lives.

I went to pick him up and she put her hands on his shoulders and told me "don't you pick him up, you're spoiling him by picking him up when he cries"

A poster on this forum, suggested that when a child keeps swearing, you should put hot sauce in his mouth. And we're talking about a 3 year old toddler in this case. Put a little if it was a minor curse and a lot if it was the f word.

Man, most of these are making me die a little on the inside. :(

Jane - posted on 05/11/2011

"What that boy needs is a good whuppin'." This was preceded by "Children do not suffer from mental illness."

We were trying to keep a child that was hallucinating from hurting himself or others and this is what the principal of his school had to say.

Kimberly - posted on 05/11/2011

i have one give my kid a tit baby if you have never heard of it it is a cloth with sugar in it diped in whiskey cures teething they say, and lets them sleep threw the night. lol thats my fathers advice for ya. no one said he was smart

Stephanie - posted on 05/09/2011

my MIL physically tried to stop me from comforting my son when he was 6 months old and crying because she had tried giving him a sippy cup with a hard plastic top and pinched his lip between the cup and his bottom teeth... I went to pick him up and she put her hands on his shoulders and told me "don't you pick him up, you're spoiling him by picking him up when he cries" I told her "MY child, not yours, get your hands off my baby" Hmm... wonder why she hates me?

Joy - posted on 04/29/2011

I've gotten some pretty off the wall and downright horrible advice since I became a mother. When my son was 2 weeks old, my friend's mom told me I was holding my baby too much. /eyeroll



Then, about 4 months ago, my husband and I made the decision to stop spanking our son. It's not like we did it a lot, maybe once a month and only a few swats on the butt (through diaper and pants). But we felt like it just wasn't having the effect we wanted. We had several legitimate reasons for us to stop spanking. My MIL wasn't happy about it AT ALL. She actually said that if we stopped spanking him, "He's gonna end up in JAAAIL!" She was really upset about it lol I finally told her that I really don't think him NOT being spanked is going to somehow cause him to end up in jail later in life. I also pointed out to her that I'm sure if she did a survey of inmates, the majority of them were spanked. That shut her up. Her own brother is in jail and I hear all the time about how they were spanked as children. Psshhh.

Danielle - posted on 04/29/2011

my mother-in-law makes it a daily habit to give me bad advice (unfortunately, she lives right around the corner) She says alot of crazy things, which my husband and I just brush off when possible. Like, she told me that my daughter should have a bottle of milk at bed time (shes FIVE) and her husband tried to take my daughter to a Justin Beiber concert (once again, shes FIVE) but i think its worst when she goes ahead and tells my daughter stuff that is ridiculous. like, she taught her some pretty nasty sayings in Italian. i dont care that other children cant speak italian; i wont have my daughter saying mean things in ANY language...

now, for bad advice, my mother was told (in the hospital after she had me) that she was spoiling me by holding me when i cried. granted, I was less than 24 hours old, and had no concept of anything yet, so, spoiled? my mother laughed that nurse right out of the hospital room...

Tara Mekosh - posted on 04/19/2011

I was told when my son was 3 weeks old that if I held him all the time, I would still be carrying him around when he was two. That I needed to put him in one of those seat-things even if he didn't like it. (Not mentioning who told me this - it was not my husband). Meanwhile - my husband was away for three weeks in China (we live in the US), and our son was about the third baby I had ever even held, and I was all alone trying to figure this whole mom thing out... and I was told not to hold him.
Flash forward, I bought an Ergo, started wearing him as much as possible, got rid of those bouncy seat things, and started co-sleeping. He is 20 months old now... am I carrying him everywhere? Uh no - he walked at 8 1/2 months old, and has been on the move ever since. He does still love to be held and loved.
It was bad advice... good advice would have been to follow my mommy instincts and hold him, and that I won't be able to hold him forever.

Laura - posted on 04/14/2011

MIL wanted me to stop giving my daughter formula because I was "poisoning her" and that she should've been getting straight juice at 2 months! All because she didn't believe that I lost my milk. She thinks she knows all about raising children because she has 4. Her advice is horribly dated, and just because you HAVE children doesn't mean you know how to RAISE children.

Her idea of raising a child: call your daughters "sluts" and "whores" from an early age to discourage the habit (her oldest now sleeps with anything that has 2 legs). Call your sons "stupid" and "cowards" when they stick up for themselves and tell you to butt out of their lives.

Kimberly - posted on 04/13/2011

that I just needed to " relax" ... " he knows you are a nervous mom".. NO.. I was NOT a nervous mom!! I was tired, and depressed with a child in pain from reflux!! How insulting!

Candy - posted on 01/30/2011

One 'friend' (now ex-friend) who couldn't keep her stupid advice to herself kept drunkenly telling my son that he should respect her and do what she said because she was older than him (hic, burp)- he replied 'That's how Hitler Youth worked, isn't it? Being old doesn't automatically make you either good or wise...' out of the mouths of babes!

Not getting the message, she went on to rant at me (burp, hic) that she WAS wise because she'd already brought up her own teenage son.... which is when I pointed out that her son had a $400 a week dope habit, had sold the car she gave him and still owed her over $1000.

Some people just have NOOOOO idea. LOL

Azza Jamila - posted on 01/26/2011

"The best time to try to conceive for your second baby is when your child turns 2."

Imagine the terrible-twos and morning sickness! I might go crazy.

I'm so glad I did not listen because it is hard to keep up with a 2 year old child if you are suffering from morning sickness.

Michelyn - posted on 01/24/2011

My mother in-law insisted there was something wrong with my sons eyesight. She could tell by looking at pictures of him from over 18 hour drive away!!!! So I took him to the optometrist once adn he was fine and then again 6 months later at her insitence at this point the optometrist asked me "would you like a letter for your mother in-law? I have one of those to!" I laughed and declined the letter and I will stick to making our yearly appt. and my mother instinct for anything else!

Lisa - posted on 01/20/2011

A poster on this forum, suggested that when a child keeps swearing, you should put hot sauce in his mouth. And we're talking about a 3 year old toddler in this case. Put a little if it was a minor curse and a lot if it was the f word.

In Canada where I live, that's considered child abuse and you can have your children taken away from you for doing it. And it's just horrible and abusive.

Mabel - posted on 01/13/2011

The best advice I have gotten so far is,....well actually two of them are,,,Never listen to your MIL and second ...Listen to your own heart and do what you think is right no matter what any one else says.Words to live by if you ask me!

Mabel - posted on 01/13/2011

The other advice she gives me is that she noticed my son was sucking on his fingers one day.She said that is a sign of insecurity and I need to talk to his DR.OOOHH I did alright! The next day was the appointment and the DR actually looked at me and said ...Please tell me you are not listening to that crazy Bitch! I laughed so hard I almost peed in my pants .When I got home later she called to see if she was right and I told her what the Dr.said word for word and she had the nerve to say...well if I had known he had an app today I would have went with you.NOT LIKELY!!!

Mabel - posted on 01/13/2011

hummm lets see here...My MIL likes to tell me her dreams.The latest one was she had my son in town and he was kidnapped in the store and she is screaming and running around the store looking for him.I asked her after she told me this...Is this supposed to instill confidence in your babysitting skills?She looks at me and has the audacity to say...Yes and after I had this dream I decided to tell you that you could learn some things from me since I have raised 2 kids.WTF!!!

Mabel - posted on 01/13/2011

Brandi I had that one too!

Cassandra - posted on 12/31/2010

LOL!! It may not be parenting advice to a baby.. but when i first got my dog, he had fleas. They had bitten him and made him very itchy. We had gotten rid of them right away, but the sores were still there.

My Dad's girlfriend decided while I was gone that bathing him in salt was a good idea. SALT!! Now not only did he hurt and itch, his skin is incredibly dry, which makes him itch more!!

Not-so-bright people..

Brandi - posted on 12/19/2010

My mother-in-law gave me the advice of letting my child chew on a chicken bone for teething. A CHCIKEN BONE!!! I thought she was nuts. Never heard that one before.