Human nature

It's always interesting to see the reaction of various pressure groups and the MSM to surveys which show that people are.... well people.

BBC.

Many mothers are under so much pressure to appear like perfect parents that they cover up how much television their children watch or what they cook their families, according to a survey.

Such "white lies" also extend to how much "quality time" mothers spend with their partner, website Netmums said its survey of 5,000 people suggested.

The parenting site said mothers often made each other feel "inadequate".

"Mums need to be more honest with each other," said Netmums' Siobhan Freegard.

The website is calling for a more honest approach to family life and an end to the guilty subterfuge of mothers who feel unable to achieve an idealised view of parenthood.

Almost two-thirds of those surveyed said they had been less than honest with other mothers about how well they were coping and almost half covered up financial worries.

Almost a quarter of mothers admitted to downplaying how much television their children actually watched - and one in five "span a yarn" over how long they played with their children.

 Whilst I admit that honesty is generally a good policy, I did raise a wry smile at Netmums trying to get parents to be honest about how well their kids were doing when discussing it with other parents. Most parents are very proud of their kids and no-one would wish to appear to be a less than perfect parent in front of anyone else, for one thing, the state can be fairly intrusive if they think there's a problem even when there is not. So parents will tend to bend the truth at times, if not tell outright whoppers about what their kids do at home, particularly on areas where they know excess is frowned upon such as tv or video games. You might get home from work exhausted, your partner has had a hell of a day too and all you want to do is relax and if your kids are playing quietly on their playstation for 3 hours after doing their homework and having dinner before they go to bed you can be pretty grateful for that fact, even if it might (just might) not be all that good for them, nor would you ever admit to anyone at the school gate that's what you did last night or most other nights either, mostly because other parents can and will judge you on it. So you tell a fib, it's human nature, the downside being of course that your kids will grass you up to the other parents kids anyway.
Still it's always amusing to see Netmums and the BBC getting their knickers in a twist over human nature, people lie, people lie about all sorts of silly things, people even know people lie and don't pull them on it, it's just human nature and good manners.

As parenting expert and sociologist Frank Furedi said

"Parents are always being judged in one way or another - including by this report. The real solution is to lay off parents and publish less reports."

Got it in one.