Parenting is a tough job. It’s pretty much the hardest thing you will ever do in your life. Now, you’re responsible for keeping another tiny human alive . Not only that, but you will shape what kind of person this child will turn out to be, and you shouldn’t take this lightly.
That’s why parents everywhere are looking for advice . Sadly, not all ideas out there are created equal, and some of them can actually create more problems. That’s why people took to Reddit to call out some of the worst parenting trends out there.
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This Confusing Logic
“Not saying ‘no’ to your children. I don’t understand the logic. Setting behavioral boundaries and maintaining those boundaries through black and white logic makes perfect sense to me.”
Um, what? That wouldn’t fly in my parent’s house, ha, ha. You absolutely have to say “no” to your children so they can learn boundaries. Am I right?
This Comparison Card
“Idk if this is a trend or not, but it’s very common. Comparing your child to others. It doesn’t matter if they’re siblings, friends, etc. That [expletive] up with their self-esteem and turns everything into a competition.”
Honestly, I can’t stand it when parents do that. That’s not right.
This Important Lesson
“Not teaching fiscal responsibility. From a very young age, we would give the money my kids got to them to use. If they wanted to spend it or save it was up to them. However, once spent, that money was GONE….just like in real life.”
Yes, kids need to know that money doesn’t grow on trees.
This Silent Treatment
“Parents who give their children ‘the silent treatment.’ Going hours, days, or longer without speaking, making the children feel guilty, ashamed, and confused about what the real problem is instead of dealing with it openly and forthrightly. Communication is key.”
OMG, what parents do that? I’ve never heard of something like that. It seems like quite an unusual punishment, huh?
This Oversharing Idea
“Oversharing stuff about your kids on social media. A picture of little Johnny’s poop in the potty is not cute, it’s disgusting. You wouldn’t post a picture of your own feces in the toilet, doesn’t make any difference coming from a two-year-old.”
Lol, talking about TMI, huh? No, thank you.
This Next Step
“It’s one thing to include a family picture with everyone. But putting a child’s entire life online, without their consent, isn’t good.”
And as you can see, oversharing can then lead to this. This child hasn’t consented to be on social media, so perhaps the parents should think twice just how much they share with everyone.
This Drastic Measure
“Removing doors when your kid asks for privacy. You just kind of prove why they want a door.”
Yikes, that’s quite the drastic measure, eh? I mean, everyone deserves some privacy, even a child. That’s what I think, and I believe most parents do as well.
This Over-Scheduling Issue
“When I was teaching, I remember my kindergarteners telling me they had no time to play because every day consisted of non-stop structured sports, dance, and such.”
Oh my goodness, I feel so bad for kids who can’t even be kids anymore. It’s perfectly fine to sign up your kids for activities, but they need leisure time, too.
This Technology Issue
“My sister-in-law preoccupies her kid and has since birth with a tablet. He is now 12 and has no friends and zero interpersonal skills. He takes his iPad to dinner, to grandmas, to church and never talks to anyone.”
Sadly, this child isn’t the only one. I know some parents who also do that and it breaks my heart.
This Strict Rule
“Extremely strict rules in general. I had a childhood friend that came over after school once and he said he had to be home by 6. Didn’t think much of it so we lost track of time playing games. He lived about a 10-minute walk up the street and he noticed it was 5:52, then started freaking out. ‘My dad’s gonna kill me if I’m late!’
I tried saying he wouldn’t care about two minutes. The next day in school my friend said he wasn’t allowed over my house anymore, and I never hung out with him again, all over this kid being two minutes late getting home.”
It’s really important to instill punctuality with your kids but this is taking it to the extreme, no?
This Failure Issue
“Making your child terrified to fail. I gave up on so many things because I repeatedly got called an idiot if I wasn’t instantly an expert.”
Unfortunately, many parents just can’t deal with their own life’s failures and seem to project that onto their children. Instead, they should be teaching their kids that you can learn from failure too.
This Shaming Practice
“Recording your children when you punish them. That’s private — not for the public. Anything posted on the internet lasts forever. And children are cruel — wait until kids at school see. They will carry that their entire lives.”
Yes, that is just not right by any means.
This Overprotecting Tactic
“Overprotection. Kids need to slowly, safely learn to manage risk and that means that they must take risks. Not letting kids learn — this hurts them as adults and preparing kids for lives as adults is really what parenting is all about.”
Amen to that.
This TMI Subject
“Guilt-tripping or being embarrassed to talk about sex and puberty.”
Well, this might not be your favorite subject, but you will eventually need to address it with your kids. So when you think the time is right, you need to approach it with care and understanding.
This Discipline Idea
“Disciplining children based on what other parents are doing — just because it works for one kid, doesn’t mean it works for others.”
I can tell you right now that doesn’t work. Every child is different, and what works for one might not work for another. So you need to figure out how to discipline your own kids.
This Unfair Treatment
“Never apologizing to your child about any mistakes you make out of avoidance of seeming ‘weak,’ even if you’re wrong and they deserve one.”
Whether you’re an adult or a child, you need to apologize if you acted wrong. This is actually going to teach your kid to take responsibility for their actions, so it’s a good teaching opportunity.
This Annoying Occurrence
“Letting your kids scream and jump around the restaurant while pretending it’s not going on.”
Please, for the love of everything good, don’t be that parent. We all know that kids will make noise, but you can do something to discourage it. It’s only fair for the other patrons trying to enjoy their meals.
These Helicopter Parents
“My wife and I are basically neighborhood pariahs because we allow our children to ride their bikes around our quiet, low-crime suburban town. I’ve had a parent flat-out tell me he won’t allow his son to come over without him because I might do something crazy like let them shoot hoops on the basketball net out front without standing there watching them.”
Imagine that? I would have never learned anything if my parents hovered over me. Period!
As I said, parenting is hard.
And I know there are so many conflicting methods passed around online. However, you shouldn’t jump on any trend if it doesn’t make sense. Every child is different, and you can’t parent all kids the same. What works for one child, may or may not work for another one, so you always need to keep that in mind.
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