After witnessing a child nearly topple a toy display at Target yesterday because his mother refused to purchase him the LEGO set he wanted, then looking on in horror as another little rugrat tore into an unpaid box of Fruit Roll-Ups at the grocery store, and proceed to punch and kick his mother because he couldn’t get past the treat’s shiny plastic packaging, I would definitely say there is no shortage of bratty kids in the world.
However, you might be surprised by how the parents of said brats respond when asked about their children’s behavior.
According to a new study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, 96 percent of American parents believe their children are little angels. Meanwhile, a measly 4 percent of parents fully admit that their children are generally “not well-behaved or obedient,” according to the government report.
The study’s results were culled from interviews health officials completed between 2001 and 2007 with parents of nearly 84,000 children. Staff at the National Center for Health Statistics posed these questions to moms and dads of kids ages 4 to 17: Do you think that your child(ren) were generally well-behaved during the past six months? Did your child(ren) do as they were told?
The results might shock teachers, day care providers and the occasional Target shopper: Only 4.2 percent of parents with boys said their sons were not well-behaved, while just 3 percent of parents with girls felt their daughters displayed poor behavior, according to the study.
Interestingly, the numbers deviated slightly between respondents who were married and those who were not. According to the study, in homes that featured two parents, only 2.1 percent said their kids weren’t well-behaved. In contrast, 5 percent of single parents admitted that their kids were far from saints.
In addition, 6 percent of low-income families admitted that their kids had bratty tendencies, while only 3 percent of rich parents would admit to the same.
When pressed by news reporters, the author of the study diplomatically suggested that parents might not remember the details of kids’ bad behavior over six months.
Nice save.
Would you willingly admit that your kid is a brat? Or do you do like the masses and conveniently overlook the times when your kid asserts her opinion via tears, screaming, squealing, shreiking and flailing limbs?
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