In your opinion, what is the definition of a "bad parent"?

Someone who refuses to educate or parent their child because of embarassment or fear.

A bad parent is a parent who intentionally neglects/abuses a child, by either not feeding them, clothing them, caring for them when they are sick. A bad parent is a parent who does not teach their child right from wrong. A bad parent is a parent who tries to be the child's friend, instead of disciplining the child. Without discipline a child does not learn tofollow rules, does not learn responsibility, and will not know how to deal with these things independently when they grow older. A bad parent is a parent who screams all the time, instead of talking to the child. A bad parent is a parent who does not take responsibility for the hygiene of a child, who does not offer unconditional love, or praise. A bad parent is one who does not believe the child, when the child says someone has abused or hurt them. A bad parent is a parent who thinks of themselves on a consistent basis, before their child. Children should be unconditionally loved, nurtured, taught, understood. Chikldren should be fed well, clothed and should always feel safe. A good parent provides in every way possible, teaching children not only rules and responsibilities, but teaches them social behaviors too. You can do this by setting up play dates for your child, involving them in extra-curricular activities, such as sports, cubscouts, girl scouts etc. I am a single mom of a 6 yr old boy and don;t have a lot of money, but cub scouts is great, when there is a trip or something, they pay it. You just have to speak up. Being a great parent is leading with love and guidance. Even when your child is mad ta you for telling them no, they truly do love boundaries, and in the long run, they face a life of hardship and frustration and pain, if not taught life's lessons at an early age! God Bless and Good luck!

I'll control myself, promise :) To me, AR is someone who is to the extreme about any position. Someone who thinks that ALL breeders are bad, that NO dog should be euthanized for aggressive behavior, that corrections should NEVER be given and bad behavior ignored, etc. I don't, honestly, think it has anything to do with placing animals and people on the same level, because I do place them on the same level. However, I think that the entire world and all it's creatures have a certain role and sometimes. Humans and dogs work together in many different avenues, animals eat animals, we're in this neat little circle that needs each and every part to 'fit' properly in order for it to work. I don't consider that supporting AR, I think it's just acknowledging the importance that everything holds in our world. No one being is more important than another. I'll try to explain it so it makes more sense...say there is a dog who is human aggressive. It just simply can't be around humans. I think that dog should be euthanized, NOT because I don't 'value' their life, but because it's not fair to the dog or the humans in it's life to sustain them. The dog would be isolated and not cared for. The humans would risk hurting themselves by trying to help the dog. It's a lose-lose scenario keeping the dog around. I think some people think more along the lines of 'it's just a dog it doesn't matter'. But then on the same hand, I think that true AR people feel that the dog is somehow being punished for it's behavior when that's far from the truth. However, I feel the same way about a person who couldn't be around people, but I can be a little extreme in that view point :-p I just try to think more about the big picture, I guess. I do think that the "AR" term is thrown about a little too casually in this forum though. I think it's an easy way to target someone who feels a little more of a sympathetic position than you (not you specifically, just 'you' as anyone) might hold. Like oh, don't listen to them they're just an AR extremist. I don't know if scapegoating would be the correct term to use in this case, but it's the closest I can come to what I mean. I totally just babbled...and I don't know if you understood any of that because it's a very confusing thought process I have.

1. No Discipline/neglegence

2. Too Much Discipline/abusive physically or mentally

3. Too Strict

4. Lack of discipline

5. Smoking in the house with kids

6. Treating their children like they are friends

7. Close Minded

8. Racist

9. Outside the box parenting

10. Parents who believe that writing lines is a punishment or reading is a punishment.

11. Use of money as a way to spoil their kids

12. Very Obese children who eat whatever they want and the parents with no knowledge of dietary needs for children.

An example of someone who's a bad parent the Mccan's mother and father! Both of them are horrible parents and should be in jail.

Emotionally or physically abusive, neglectful, do not spend enough time with them to teach and play with them, parents who have their kids with a babysitter or nanny for more than average working hours (unless you need to run an errands, obviously, but dumping them with someone else for more than like 10 hours a day on a regular basis is ridiculous.) Parents who do attend functions that are important to their children because of their own schedule (obviously not all parents can attend EVERYTHING, but make an effort and attend most things!) I could go on but those are the first things that come to my head. Obviously there is no perfect parent and parents are human too and need their alone time, as well, but when the things I mentioned above are done on a regular basis....that is what I consider a bad parent.

Oh, and when people try to be the "cool parent" of the block and allow their kids to do whatever with whomever and whenever. That is setting your child up for some serious issues when real life hits!

A Child Abuser

In my opinion I'd say that at least 60%+ of parents in America today are bad parents on many levels. People are too selfish,and refuse to realize the world stops revolving around anything but your kids when you have kids.Examples:Drug abuse,alcohol abuse,gambling abuse,irresponsible financial habits,lieing,cheating,stealing,hitting, lack of supervision,lack of cleanliness,people that "buy their kids out",people that are blindly ignorant,criminals,people that leave their kids with who ever whenever,people that allow bad people around their kids, whores,people that have kids for any reason other than wanting to raise and take care of a child, people that abuse the system,people that feel the only responsibility is to give just what it legally states in carring for their child/children.And lastly MY PARENTS

A bad parent is someone that puts his or her needs in front of their childs. Parents have to make a lot of sacrifices, and should do so out of love.

A bad parent to me is someone who doesn't meet the essential needs of their children. Someone who doesn't care for them and who let's them run all over the place doing whatever it is they want. A bad parent is someone who doesn't show love to their children.

I'll give you an example, yesterday I was walking into the grocery store and outside was a women with her about six month old baby in a stroller, she was rocking the stroller with her foot, smoking a cigarette and texting someone on her phone, meanwhile her baby screamed and reached for her to pick him up.

She didn't though, just texted away and blew smoke in her poor babies face.