Get ready for a smackdown.
So comedian Kitty Flanagan thinks she should be allowed to have an opinion on parenting even though she doesn’t have kids. And so, in her column over the weekend, she shared her opinion on parenting.
Which is basically that kids should just shut up and do what they’re told.
And about a million people agreed with her, including some of my friends on Facebook. (Mostly the childless ones.) But not me.
Apparently, Kitty formed her opinion by visiting friends who have kids. One time, her friends were trying to get their daughter to take some medicine and they tried to explain that it would make her feel better. Kitty thinks they should have just opened the little girl’s jaws and shoved it down her throat, like she does with a dog or a cat.
Of course! Then they should have hung a bell around her neck and kicked her outside to prowl the alleys at night. Because kids and cats are exactly the same, right?
Another time, Kitty was having dinner with friends and they spent ages trying to get their child to sleep, including reading lots of stories and lying next to her.
How terrible of them! Awful! They should have just slammed the door on their anxious, unsettled child, poured themselves a huge glass of pinot noir, and forgotten all about her. Because why should a child interfere with a parent’s fun in any way? Kitty’s opinion not mine.
Above all, Kitty thinks all parents should use the line, "Because I said so," just like they did back in the 1970s.
Okay, Kitty. I've heard your opinion, now here's mine.
Not everyone wants to parent exactly the same way their mum and dad did it. Some people have actually thought a lot about having kids. They've read books by people who have done proper research into it. They've thought about things that upset them when they were children, things that made them feel scared or unloved. They've thought about what they want to encourage in their children.
Top Comments
Did it escape your notice that she's a comedian? Personally I think it's great to be able to laugh at ourselves and some of the admittedly ridiculous things we do as parents.
So do you need to be a politician to have an opinion on politics? Or the pope to have an opinion on religion? Get over yourself. Your literally just giving an opinion on some else's opinion telling people that that person doesn't have a right to have an opinion. What is that? I feel really sorry for the people in your life, you must be an awfully self-righteous irritating human being.