r/AskParents rules, stats, and what to post

This is a question and answer community where people ask parents things, one question at a time. The description is short and the format is strict. You post a question in the title, and parents in the community answer it. The rules make clear that this is a place to ask parents for their perspective, not a place to vent, not a place to judge anyone, and not a place to share links or promote anything. The people answering are parents, so the room is built around real lived experience with raising kids, family decisions, and everyday parenting situations. If you have something you genuinely want to hear a parent's take on, this is the room for that. If you want to share an opinion, tell a story without asking anything, or point people at a product, this is not your room.

The rule that decides everything here is “No links allowed, only questions”, because it bans every link in posts and comments, including crossposts, so you cannot drop a URL to your site, your blog, or your app. The next wall is “No surveys or research. No promotional posts.”, which kills surveys, research materials, articles, news stories, and promotional posts such as apps and services outright. Rule “Must ask a question” means your title has to contain a question, and posts that just vent or share an opinion get removed. “Be Real” bans the use of AI or ChatGPT or any other AI generation, which is a hard stop if you were planning to draft your post with a tool. “No AITA/judgement style questions” removes judgement posts and rants against parents, so you cannot frame your research as asking who was in the wrong. “No medical or legal questions” pushes anything about health or legal advice out of bounds, and “No politics/heavy issues” removes hot button topics at moderator discretion. Finally, “Please use the relevant megathread when available” means you should check the subreddit before posting, because a megathread may be the only place your question belongs.

The only safe shape here is a genuine question, written in your own words, in the title itself, with no links anywhere in the post or comments. If you are a founder trying to understand parents, the honest version of that is to ask a real question about a real parenting situation your product touches, without naming your product or linking to anything. For example, you could ask parents how they handle a specific everyday decision or what a common frustration looks like from their side, as long as it reads as curiosity and not as research. The question should be plain and specific, one question per post, since the description says one at a time. Write it yourself, in your own voice, because AI written posts are not allowed. Check the subreddit first to see if a megathread exists, and if one covers your topic, post there instead. If you can ask something you actually want the answer to, and the answer would help you build something better without ever mentioning what you sell, you are in the right shape for this community.

Any post or comment with a link gets removed, so no URLs anywhere, not even a crosspost. Anything that looks promotional, like a mention of your app, your service, or your company, gets removed under the no promotion rule. Surveys and research materials are out, including articles and news stories, so a poll or a study request is a fast removal. If your title does not contain a question, the post does not survive, so a statement or a story with no question mark fails. Do not ask medical or legal questions, even tangentially, because the community says to ask professionals instead. Do not ask AITA style questions, judgement questions, or post rants against parents, because those all get removed. Stay away from politics and heavy hot button topics, since moderators remove those at their discretion. Skip mental health topics like suicide, self harm, psychiatric emergencies, or child abuse, because the community says it is not the place for mental health advice or diagnosis. Do not encourage or glorify underage drinking or drug use, though questions or concerns about minors using substances are welcome. Do not troll, do not insult or demean anyone, and do not use hate speech or slurs of any kind. If you want to update the community on a previous post, you get one update post and moderators may lock it. Finally, write your post yourself, because AI generated content is not allowed here.

Rule 14, “Be Real”, is the one that caught my eye here, because it bans AI generated posts outright and that is a rule almost no other community spells out this plainly. That tells me the moderators have seen too much canned content and they want a real person typing real sentences. My honest advice is simple, if you would not say it out loud to a parent at a school gate, do not post it here. This is a small, strict room, and the only marketing that survives is the kind that does not look like marketing at all.