Top 10 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make When Raising Children
My cousins are constantly spoiled. They now whine, cry, and throw tantrums whenever they don't get what they want. My relatives have turned them into spoiled brats.
Exactly. Kids are now spoiled with games, iPhones, money for Starbucks, and many more things. I know a kid who gets one dollar a day for going to school. Wow.
I don't have a phone and get two hours of actual gaming per day, and I am the only one of my peers to see the reasoning there...
Let me guess - letting their children drink alcohol before the legal age?
All the time!
Me: My cousin just threw a ball in the house.
Mom: Let them be.
Me: My cousin is listening to songs with explicit language in them.
My relatives: That's OK.
Me: My cousins are trying to stab me with a fork.
(My relatives ignore it.)
They can't even be a good role model to me. Why would they want to be my friend?
Parents need to know one important thing: You're a parent first and a friend second.
This is mainly for overprotective parents only.
My hometown hosts free concerts and fireworks during the holidays, but my ridiculously overprotective Asian mom, who already restricts my freedom despite the fact that I'm an adult, won't let me attend them due to her fear of potential security or terrorism threats.
Me: Can I go to this free concert/fireworks display?
Mom: No
Me: Why not? It's free!
Mom: You might get hurt or killed.
Me: It's 100% safe! They have security there.
Mom: I said no.
Me: >:(
I feel trapped in my own home sometimes because of this... :(
I swear that I have the most boring parents in the entire universe...
My parents don't even care when my 19-year-old sister threatened to kill me.
I know some parents who do this, and their kids are rude and disrespectful to other people.
My parents do this for my cousins and sister all the time. Now they're lazy.
My parents would demonstrate violence, such as throwing furniture to express anger, and use over-the-top profanity in front of me. They've fought three times or so, and each time, they let me see them fight, cuss, and brutally beat up stuff.
Yet we are expected to be like our parents. Sigh.
Luckily, my parents almost never fight with each other. If they do, the fight is over within about 20 seconds.
Yes, and I have heard the F-word like a thousand times in these fights. 67% of the time, it is my dad.
I know, right? Some kids these days need to learn that it isn't all about them. Life is not a movie, and they are not the main character!
The Newcomers
This is one of the major mistakes a parent can make. By favoring one child over the other, they make the other feel completely worthless.
Just look at Hey Arnold! - the only reason Helga acts the way she does is because her parents always gave more love and attention to her older sister, Olga.
My parents clearly like my brother better. It drives me insane.
Especially if you have more than one child: chaos!
Parents tell you, Don't do this, then they do it themselves, and it's all right because they're parents. That is contradictory to a child or teen.
My dad called my brother an idiot after saying several horrible things, and my brother started crying. (My brother NEVER cries.)
Growing up Asian, spankings were very common in our household. They no longer happen to the older kids (e.g., me, my sister, and cousins), but two of my younger cousins still occasionally get them.
We now sometimes get aggressive because of it, and that is not a good thing at all. I try not to get aggressive, but it is very difficult.
It only teaches kids to hit people when they're older, when someone does something wrong.
They say that this will hurt, etc...
I am always cursed at, and one day when my mom cursed, I cursed and almost got grounded for it. It is a habit for them, and it is so annoying.
Where do you think we learn the swearing from?
My mom needs to stop this. She thinks I spill things when cooking! I don't. Thirty years of hearing that. Or how I'm messy. I'm not! Tell me that doesn't drive you insane.
Once my mom yelled at me in public, in front of my relatives, and made me cry. She denied her wrongdoing and refused to apologize, even though my relatives all witnessed it!
This is the struggle of us teenagers and young adults. Society, in general, treats us like elementary schoolers but expects us to be mature and responsible at the same time.
My great-aunt does this a lot, and it's really, really irritating.