April Spiller has plenty of experience with kids. She’s been a teacher for the past 11 years, has nieces and nephews, and has multiple friends with kids.
“As a childless adult who has been around and helped raise over 2,000 other people’s kids, if I am giving you advice, it’s because I have either been there or have seen others going through it,” Spiller told HuffPost.
But she’s learned the hard way that her advice is rarely taken seriously because she’s not a parent herself. So now, she keeps her thoughts to herself.
Her experience raises an interesting question: is it ever OK for childless adults to give parenting advice? Even if you don’t have kids yourself, it’s natural to have opinions about choices your siblings or friends may make when raising theirs. But having opinions and being able to relate are different experiences.
To dig deeper into this debate, we talked to parents, childless adults and an ethicist for their opinions.
English (US)