real-parenting
Explanation
The Joke
A parent mentions that her daughter was playing a video game, and another parent immediately jumps in with "You let her play a video game? That is not real parenting!" She then lists all the supposedly correct alternatives: reading books, playing outside, playing games as a family. But each suggestion is dismissed by yet another person as also not being "real parenting."
Eventually, someone defines "real parenting" as any interaction with a child during which at least one of you is actively suffering. The comic then presents a 2x2 grid: Child Happy + Parent Happy = Bad Parenting, Child Sad + Parent Happy = Real Parenting, Parent Sad + Child Happy = Real Parenting, Parent Sad + Child Sad = A+ Parenting. The final panel has someone say "Why is this written in crayon?" and a parent responds "My daughter wanted to help making it," implying the daughter enthusiastically participated in making a chart about how parenting requires suffering.
The Humor
The comic satirizes the competitive, judgmental culture of parenting advice, where no matter what a parent does, someone else will insist it is not "real" parenting. The joke escalates the absurdity until the logical conclusion is reached: the only thing that qualifies as "real" parenting is mutual misery. The 2x2 matrix is a perfect skewering of how parenting culture often seems to equate suffering with virtue -- if everyone is having fun, you must be doing it wrong. The final panel adds an ironic twist: the daughter helped make the chart, which means she was happily engaged in a creative activity with her parent, which by their own chart's logic means it is "Bad Parenting."
The votey shows the parent thinking "She will be my most accomplished enemy," playing on the idea that raising a capable child means creating someone who will eventually challenge and surpass you.