One thing that I think a lot of people tend to forget is that children are people . They have thoughts, feelings, aspirations, and they can tell when you aren’t treating them with respect .
One therapist on TikTok shared the actual things her child and teenaged clients have told her, with their express permission, of course. But what they say is absolutely devastating.
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Courtney is a trauma counselor with over 18 years of experience.
Her TikTok account ( @ask.courtney ) is full of videos that are geared toward giving mental health advice and spreading awareness for issues surrounding trauma and mental disorders.
In one video, she shares things that kids and teens have told her during counseling sessions.
“They gave permission to share,” Courtney writes in the title of the video, which shows various notes of heartbreaking things kids have said about their parents.
Many of this kids express their frustration toward their parents.
For some, they feel they’re being neglected, or they aren’t being heard. For others, they feel that their parents are unnecessarily harsh on them, and don’t take their feelings into account.
In many ways, the TikTok serves as a warning to adults.
Actually listening to what children have to say is the only way to help them work through whatever problems they may be facing while they grow up.
Courtney uploaded a part 2 to the TikTok, and it went viral.
In the second part, Courtney shares more of the things her child and teen clients have said to her, again expressing that they gave their permission. Courtney also never gives any personally identifying information on the kids, making the TikToks more than ethical.
And the notes from this TikTok are just as heartbreaking as those from the last.
Many of the children, whose ages range from 6 to 17 years old, express how their parents make them feel forgotten, opting to pay more attention to pets and phones than them.
Their words show how damaging neglect can be to a child’s psyche.
They show how kids want attention and positive reinforcement. Kids who are constantly yelled at may end up feeling that their parents don’t love them as much as they really do.
And again, they remind us adults to do better by the kids in our lives.
No one wants to hear that they’ve been a bad parent, and the best way to stop that is to keep your kids from feeling like they’re bad children.
It’s no wonder that the part 2 TikTok got so much attention.
With over 3.4 million views since it was posted at the end of September, many people expressed how much these kids’ heartbreaking messages resonated with their own experiences.
And parents have expressed their desires to do right by their kids.
“Thanks for this. I’m gonna pick up my kid from school tomorrow, take him to lunch and just listen,” one commenter wrote.
Another said, “Well all of those were painful to read. Our children need more love and definitely more time.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
