Parenting Surveys

How good are your parenting abilities?

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Written by Tim Barnes-Clay
A new poll has asked mums and dads how good they are as parents – and this is what they said…

It can helpful to know that other parents have the same worries about their skills as a parent. A new poll by YouGov Omnibus surveyed over 1,000 parents asked them to rate their parenting ability. The children of all who participated in the poll were aged under 18.

How good are you as a parent?

More than half of the parents surveyed (55 per cent) would call themselves “good” parents. While 13 per cent think that they are “excellent” parents. In contrast, just over a quarter believe themselves to be “average” parents. Out of everyone surveyed, just two per cent consider themselves to be “bad” parents. Notably, a statistical zero per cent identified as “terrible” parents. In all of these cases, there is fundamentally no difference between how men and women rate their parenting compared with the other.

Do you worry about your parenting ability?

Just over two in three parents claim that they worry about how good ability raising their children is either “very often” (30 per cent) or “quite often” (39 per cent). The poll found that the greater a parent considered themselves as a parent, the less likely they are to worry. The poll also showed that dads worry less than mums do about their parenting skills.

Are mums or dads better parents?

YouGov also asked the parents polled that are raising their child with a partner whether they believed that one of them was a superior parent to the other. About half said they felt that they and their partner were both equally good parents (54 per cent of men, 53 per cent of women). Interestingly enough, however, a third of women (34 per cent) said they were a better parent than their partner. Notably, 32 per cent of men polled agreed, claiming their partner to be a better parent. Just  six per cent of men surveyed felt they were a better parent than their partner.  Similarly, just six per cent of women think their partner is a better parent.