HGTV's Jasmine Roth's Parenting Confession Had Fans Totally Divided

HGTV's Jasmine Roth found herself in some hot water after sharing her views on parenting. Roth, who became a first time mother in 2020 and welcomed her second child in 2024, has been openly sharing her journey through parenthood. After the birth of her second child, she shared her scary birth experience in a heartbreaking essay. In the essay, she explains how she went into labor a month early on her and her husband's 11th wedding anniversary and how their usual 25-minute drive to the hospital became a 55-minute one because of traffic congestion. They made it just in time, and she gave birth shortly after their arrival to the hospital. But more recently, she offered up a parenting take that caused a few heads to turn. 

Roth appeared as a guest on the October 3, 2024 episode of "The Motherly Podcast," and discussed her personal motherhood experience thus far. In the episode, she explains a lot of her own takes on raising children, and one thing in particular that she noted is how she felt like raising a dog helped prepare her to become a parent. "This might be controversial ... Not that kids are dogs, because they're not, but I do think having that responsibility and figuring out how to navigate puppyhood, and then training them and taking care of them, and all of the things that go into having dogs, I think did give us a good starting point, at least, when it came time to have kids," she explained. The host agreed and posted this excerpt of the interview on the podcast's Instagram for fans to share their own thoughts.

Jasmine Roth landed her first show, "Hidden Potential," on HGTV in 2017, so she might be accustomed to audience backlash by now. Given that she qualified her statement by explaining that kids are not dogs, she knew it was more than likely someone would have something bad to say about it. And she was at least half right.

Some people did disagree with what she stated, as one user said, "Dogs don't prepare you for kids lol." But another user replied, "Sure it does in a different way. They still depend on you. You have to feed them. You have to take care of them to worry about them all that stuff." Another fan commented, "Definitely agree. We had to organize ourselves in a manner of making sure to be home by certain times ... That being said, after two kids ... it's still about 5% of what it takes to raise kids ..." Another user couldn't agree more, "Totally agree!!!! Dogs are a nice starting point!" 

Roth clearly wasn't courting controversy with her statement, and luckily, most fans at least understood what she was saying and at least partially agreed with her, even if caring for dogs pales in comparison to rearing children!