Mums lie about kids' bad habits

Mothers are increasingly resorting to lies about how much time they spend with children or how much TV viewing is allowed in order to appear like the perfect parents, says a new survey.

The website Netmums said its survey of 5,000 people suggested that mothers often made each other feel 'inadequate'.

"Mums need to be more honest with each other," the BBC quoted Netmums' Siobhan Freegard as saying.

66 percent of those surveyed said they had been less than honest with other mothers about how well they were coping and almost half covered up financial worries.

Almost a quarter of mothers admitted to downplaying how much television their children actually watched.

"It's just very difficult to put your hands up and admit that you parent differently to your friends," said Freegard of a mom who was exhausted and went back to bed during the day, but explained her failure to answer the phone as being because her hands had been covered in flour while making cookies.

Netsmum has launched The Real Parenting Revolution to encourage parents to more honest to each other about how they live, rather than feeling bad about not living up to a myth of perfection.

"It's the imperfections that make us human," Freegard said.

Parenting expert and sociologist Frank Furedi said, "Parents are always being judged in one way or another -- including by this report. The real solution is to lay off parents and publish less reports."

Psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos said, "You're in competition with no-one but yourselfu00a0-- all you can do is the best for you and your kid."