Fear of Judgement Pushes UK Parents to Seek Help from Google When Raising Children

New analysis of Google search data shows that parents are turning to the search engine to help raise their children more than ever before. In fact, parents across the country use the search engine to answer questions about their children over 10,000 times per day on average. This has increased by almost a third in the last five years, demonstrating a growing reliance on the internet to help raise a family.

With research amongst British parents revealing that a quarter of modern mums and dads are feeling increasing pressure to keep up with society’s expectations of good parenting, it’s likely that this fear of judgement is behind the rise in the number of parents opting to seek help online rather than speaking to friends, family, or health professionals.

Children’s physical health is the most commonly Googled aspect of parenting so far this year, with searches concerning chickenpox, croup, and asthma topping the list.

However, parents are also increasingly turning to Google for advice about their children’s mental well-being too. Brits searching for help to identify whether their child has anxiety has increased by 190 percent since 2018, whilst searches on why their child is having panic attacks have increased by 5,000 percent.

It isn’t just health that Brits are turning to Google for support with either. The analysis, which was conducted by leading name-label manufacturer MyNametags.com, shows that practical aspects of raising a child are also searched for regularly. Searches for what age a child can be left on their own have increased by 280 percent whilst queries about what age their child can use a booster seat have spiked to 540 percent higher than this time five years ago.

The data also demonstrates how the issues concerning parents’ most have changed in the past five years. Searches concerning children’s phone usage, what the best ISA is to save for their children, and whether to give children the flu vaccine have become commonplace in 2023 but were not being searched for by UK parents in 2018.

Lars B. Andersen, Managing Director at MyNametags.com, comments: “At My Nametags, we offer parents advice on preparing their children for school and preventing lost belongings every day, so we were interested to find out what more about the other most pressing questions families have.

“It’s interesting to see the sheer breadth of information that parents turn to Google for and how this has evolved over time. Whilst internet usage is naturally higher than ever before, the fact that parents are now searching for advice about things including their child’s mental well-being and tracking their digital footprint demonstrates how parenting has evolved and highlights new concerns that weren’t prevalent for previous generations.”

Top 10 most Googled parenting questions in 2023:

1. Can I go to work if my child has chickenpox?
2. How to check my child benefit application
3. Is my child autistic?
4. What is my cousin’s child to me?
5. Why does my child keep getting croup?
6. Does my child have ADHD?
7. Does my child have asthma quiz
8. Does my child have diabetes quiz
9. How much is in my child’s trust fund?
10. What should I do if my child has covid-19?

Visit the My Nametags website for answers to parents’ most Googled questions about sending their children back to school.