Calling All Parenting Experts

Expert’ definition: a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area.

Well, that just about covers around 19.5 million families with living parents in the UK. That's an awful lot of people!

My question is, how does 'Sarah' claim to be a 'Parenting Expert'? Her google strapline reads: ‘... a parenting expert… but definitely not a perfect parent!’

Who wants to hear advice from someone about the most precious things in our world, our children, who admits to being short of perfect?

I was listening to a call-in radio show discussing apps that track children - a subject that can divide people but generally, we know, as parents, that we are doing our best. We would be grateful for the intervention if we had children who needed tracking.

I don't mind parenting-help forums, literary mothering aids or live communities where we can find affirmation for the problematic stages our children face.

I would be terrified if I didn't have my partner or other close friends to share the potentially catastrophic errors I've made with multiple over-reactions, wrong assumptions and indulgent apologies projected onto our children.

And I reckon, every single parent is a 'parenting expert' of their own children.

But, apparently, there are acclaimed people who know even more. And, as I listened to the radio, I wondered what Self-proclaimed Parenting Expert 'Sarah' has over us…

Is she a façade - selling a disingenuous portrayal of parenting, allowing her to sell an idealised image of parenthood? Has she read more books than us or attended more parental workshops? Perhaps she has heightened knowledge about other parents’ decisions.

The question still remains: What defines a true expert in the realm of parenting?

To find out, I asked my AI friend what credentials a 'parenting expert' has over an everyday parent.

Education and Training

AI Expert: Psychology qualification and CBT training

Parent:

• staying up many nights sympathising, rationalising and soothing hundreds of worries.

• having one or multiple children and working with their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Professional Experience

AI Expert: Working with families/Consulting & Research

Parent:

• analysing and making mental notes from a range of diverse discussions about other people’s families.

• holding onto our true parenting wisdom gained through the messy, unfiltered experiences of raising children.

• 
  

Training in Specific Parenting Techniques

AI Expert: Research-backed programs designed to improve parent-child interactions

Parent:

• what on earth is navigating teenage years if it isn’t specific parent-child interaction!

Certification

AI Expert: The letters following their names after a few days or a couple of years' training

Parent:

• unwritten accreditation that you earn a life-time achievement for the 18 years you’re involved in EACH of your children’s lives.

Affiliation

AI Expert: Membership with other experts

Parent:

• attending multiple coffee-meets, alcohol-fests with fellow parents and friends sharing methods tried and tested, old and new.

Publications and Media Experience

AI Expert: Books, Social Media Profiles

Parent:

• who has time for this? Possibly those not parenting.

• 
  

Specialist Knowledge

AI Expert: Special needs

Parent:

• for goodness sake, who’s child is not special?

• and which parent is not aware of their children’s special needs.

• 
  

Finally, just as our children experience their own parents, I don't hear them call themselves 'Experts in being Parented'.

So, let us cast aside the illusion of expertise and embrace the authenticity of our own experiences as the ultimate guide on this remarkable journey called parenthood.

I rest my case. I feel I have done us ‘Everyday Parents’ justice here. Nobody needs a bloody parenting expert!

It’s annoying