How Parents Use Online Communities
On Reddit’s largest parenting forum, around one-in-five posts mention kids’ technology use
Parenting in the Digital Age: What We Learned from r/Parenting on Reddit
Parenting today comes with all kinds of challenges — and many moms and dads are turning to the internet for advice and support. One of the biggest online spaces for parents is r/Parenting on Reddit, which now has over 8 million members (as of November 2025).
To better understand what parents talk about online, we looked at six months of posts and comments from the r/Parenting community, and we also surveyed U.S. parents with kids age 12 or younger about their experiences in online parenting spaces.
Here’s what we found:
What Parents Talk About Most on r/Parenting
The most common topics parents post about include:
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Division of childcare duties (mentioned in 23% of posts)
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Kids and technology (18%)
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Family finances and the cost of raising kids (13%)
Overall, 44% of all posts mentioned at least one of these topics.
Parents Often Post When They’re Stressed
Nearly half of all posts (48%) express mostly negative emotions — frustration, burnout, sadness, or stress — as parents look for advice or reassurance. Only about 5% of posts are mainly positive, such as celebrating milestones or sharing success stories.
Posts about sharing childcare responsibilities are especially emotional. About two-thirds (68%) of these are written in a negative tone, showing how often parents feel overwhelmed or unbalanced when it comes to dividing up parenting duties.
But the Comments? They’re Mostly Supportive
Despite the internet’s bad reputation for negativity, r/Parenting commenters are overwhelmingly kind and helpful.
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88% of top-level comments offer support, empathy, or useful advice.
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Only 12% are critical, irrelevant, or mixed in tone.
Many users return to comment multiple times — showing that for a lot of parents, this subreddit has become a real community.
Who’s Joining These Parenting Conversations?
We found that during our six-month study:
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Over 110,000 unique users either posted or commented.
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94% of them left at least one comment, but only 20% made a post.
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The most active 5% of commenters wrote about half of all comments.
When users tag their posts by their child’s age, the most common tags are “Toddler (1–3 years)” (20%) and “Child (4–9 years)” (23%).
Interestingly, not all posts stick around. By October 2025, only 62% of the posts we studied were still visible; 29% had been deleted by their authors, and 9% were removed by moderators.
How Parents Use Online Parenting Communities
In our national survey:
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34% of parents said they visit online parenting spaces (like Reddit or Facebook groups) at least once a month.
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42% of mothers do this regularly, compared with 22% of fathers.
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Younger parents (ages 18–29) and parents of young kids (under age 5) are the most active online.
How Parents Feel About These Online Spaces
Most parents who visit online parenting communities say they get something valuable from them:
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63% say these spaces make them feel more informed about parenting.
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48% say they feel more connected to other parents.
But not everyone has a positive experience:
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38% say these communities can make parenting feel more overwhelming because there’s so much information to take in.
Who’s Posting and Commenting
Among parents who visit these communities:
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40% have posted or commented about their own experiences.
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Only 5% say they do so often.
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Mothers (46%) are more likely than fathers (30%) to join in the conversation.
The Bottom Line
Online parenting spaces like r/Parenting can be a lifeline for stressed-out moms and dads. While the posts often reflect the tough, emotional side of raising kids, the replies show that there’s a strong, supportive network of parents who genuinely want to help each other out.