September 10, 2024
by Maureen Downey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: PhotoMIX Company from Pexels
When my kids were young, I kept a stack of parenting books to consult on teething, toddler tantrums and bedtime routines. More often, however, I took my child-rearing questions to parents I met on the playground or in the neighborhood.
My own mother was no help. She had four children in proximity and always told me our early childhood years were a blur of wiping noses, changing diapers and applying bandages. Her usual response to one of my questions was, “Hell if I can remember.”
Now, parents can consult Google. A new analysis tallied up the questions asked on Google related to parenting by state. In Georgia, the top question was” “Why do kids wet the bed?”
My challenge was not kids wetting the bed but refusing to go to bed or stay in bed, putting me in alliance with parents in Arkansas, where the top question on Google was: “How to get toddler to stay in bed?”
I am not sure what to make of the bedtime-related question most frequently asked of Google in Montana: “How to put a kid to sleep in 40 seconds.”
It’s interesting to see the variety of perplexing questions that drive people to search the internet. In the state of Washington, the top question is, “Why do kids eat boogers?” Parents in neighboring California want to know, “Why are kids so loud?”
Florida poses a tough question, one that engenders a lot of debate in the parenting forums: “How to help a child lose weight without making them feel bad?” Michigan also has a question that carries a heavy emotional weight: “Why is my kid so mean?”
Here are some of the other most popular parenting questions that each state searches that emerged in the Google search data analysis by VocoVision, a virtual learning and teletherapy platform.
Colorado: How to talk so little kids will listen
Hawaii: When do boys stop growing?
Illinois: How to teach a kid to ride a bike
Indiana: How many teeth do kids have?
Iowa: How to get toddler to stop hitting
Louisiana: Why won’t my kid be quiet?
Maine: Why do toddlers bite?
Mississippi: Am I a good parent?
Missouri: Does my kid have ADHD?
New Mexico: Why do kids have so much energy?
Ohio: When to worry about rash on a child
South Carolina: What age should a kid get a phone?
West Virginia: Why is my kid cursing?
2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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