Are you a parent who wants the best for their kids?
Are you a parent who wants the best for your kids?
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Both are. The latter is in 2nd person, i.e. you're one who's being referred to by another. The former is in 3rd person, e.g. you're one among many who's being referred to. 1st person (which is not mentioned in the original post) would be: you referring to someone (or something).– ASNCommented Aug 2, 2022 at 11:12
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C.f. english.stackexchange.com/questions/19769/…– ASNCommented Aug 2, 2022 at 11:22
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3 Answers
Are you a parent who wants the best for their kids?
The question is detached from the 'parent', and refers to 'you' (the subject being questioned) as one parent, among many, to group you.
Are you a parent who wants the best for your kids?
The question is attached to 'you' (the subject being questioned) as a singular parent.
Conclusively, both are grammatically correct, the point of reference differs though. 'their' & 'your' would be a difference in person, that is, third person, and second person, respectively.
It is worth noting that: it is more appropriate, given the context of an interview, a dialogue, or a questionnaire, that you should refer to the person being questioned in the second person perspective.
The first is correct. It asks for parents who want the best for their [own] kids, and asks you whether you are such a parent.
The second asks about parents who want the best for your kids. That is, from the perspective of the parents being referred to, parents who want the best for other people's kids. That's not what the asker means to ask about, so it is not a correct way to word the question. Yes, it's grammatically correct, but the important thing is that it's not a correct way to express the intended question.
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I don't agree with your second paragraph. If I say to someone "Do you want what's best for your children?" it's clear that I'm referring to their children, not some supposed third party.– ShowsniCommented Aug 2, 2022 at 13:29
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Your example does not have the problem that the OP's second suggested sentence has. That problem is an unwanted mix of supposed third party ("a parent") and the reader's own children ("your children"). Your example does not refer to a third party.– Rosie FCommented Aug 2, 2022 at 13:33
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Certainly, if I said "Is there a parent who wants the best for your kids" it would be as you say - the children wouldn't belong to the parents. But in this case, where it's saying "Are you a parent who wants the best for your kids", I think that is a second person perspective. If we turn the question around to answer it - "You are a parent who wants the best for your kids" - that seems fine.– ShowsniCommented Aug 2, 2022 at 13:44
Both constructions will be equally understood by many English speakers but there may be regional preferences for one or the other and they may be interpreted as slightly different in meaning. The first construction may be interpreted as "a parent who wants the best" while the other might be interpreted as "you who wants the best". Deconstructed to "are you a parent, are you who wants the best".
