Workplace feedback usually comes wrapped in layers of politeness.
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“Thanks for the great work on this, just one suggestion…”
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“This looks good, but have you considered…”
It’s padded, sandwiched, softened.
At home? No such luck.
Kid feedback is savage honesty:
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“This chicken is disgusting.”
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“Your hair looks weird.”
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“I hate it. I want my other mummy back.” (Yes, that was said to me after a haircut. Brutal.)
No cushioning. No slides. No “strengths first, opportunities second.” Just straight to the jugular.
Why Mum Feedback Hurts More
I’ve worked six months on a million-dollar project and received a bland “thanks” email. Nothing.
But one throwaway line from an 8-year-old can derail me for days.
Why? Because at work, feedback is expected. We steel ourselves for it. At home, we think we’re safe — until our children casually torch our cooking, our appearance, or our personality.
The absurdity is, the “chicken sucks” feedback lands harder than the “please refine this slide” feedback ever will.
The Training Ground We Didn’t Know We Had
Here’s the truth: if you can survive kid-level feedback, you can handle workplace feedback.
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If you can come back to the dinner table the next night with another meal after being told yesterday’s was gross, you’re already practising resilience.
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If you can smile through your child’s brutal fashion critique and still wear the outfit, you’re building confidence in your own choices.
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And if you can filter their blunt honesty for the useful nugget (“okay, maybe less chilli in the tacos next time”), then you’re already doing what great leaders do with feedback: listen, sift, apply.
But Then… The Unexpected Gold
It’s not all bad. Kids also drop the kind of unfiltered compliments that can make your week.
Like the time my daughter looked at me and said, “I like your fit.”
At first I thought she was talking about my fitness. But no — it turns out “fit” is Gen Z slang for outfit. She meant: “Mum, I like your outfit.”
I was trying out a new travel look (baggy jeans, white jumper — yes, I felt very on-trend), and hearing it from her filled me right up. Because when a child gives you a compliment, you know it’s 100% genuine.
And that’s the flip side of feedback: when it’s positive, raw, and real, it sticks in the best way.
The Leadership (and Parenting) Twist
Work feedback is often diluted. Home feedback is raw. Which is more useful?
Probably somewhere in between.
Because while no one really needs to hear “I want my other mummy back,” we also don’t grow much from endless sugar-coating.
The best kind of feedback — in parenting or leadership — is delivered with the right intention. Not to wound, not to shame, but to help the other person learn and grow.
And here’s the bigger picture: every time we respond well to our kids’ blunt feedback, we’re modelling how to give and receive feedback with respect.
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We show them that honesty matters.
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We show them that kindness matters just as much.
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And we show them that feedback isn’t something to fear — it’s something to learn from.
So maybe that’s the real takeaway: if we can handle the harsh stuff at home and celebrate the sweet stuff too, we’re not only building our own resilience, we’re raising the next generation to do feedback better than we ever did.
"If you can survive your child telling you dinner sucks, you can survive your boss telling you to redo a slide. Motherhood is the best feedback bootcamp there is." - The Mama Assembly
👉 Have you ever had kid-level honesty show up in your workplace? How did you handle it?
And if all else fails, process it over a coffee (or wine) with your favourite Swear Jar Mama™ mug in hand. Because feedback stings less with caffeine.
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