10 Instant Signs of Bad Parenting Today According to the Internet

Have you witnessed or exercised poor parenting and can spot the signs a mile away? You’re not alone. After a parent asked the internet for instant signs of lousy parenting, these were the most agreed-upon responses. 

1. Dismissal of Emotions

How crucial emotional intelligence is when dealing with others is hardly a subject of debate across cultures. Several suggest the blatant parental dismissal of emotions when their children express hurt is a definitive sign of bad parenting.

For example, one woman informs her mom of being diagnosed with depression, and her mom’s response was, “we all have bad days.”

2. Children Living in Fear

With many upvotes, it was asserted that several parents pride themselves on raising kids who are terrified of them. Sharing their reality, someone claims many parents think hitting a kid is a way of imparting discipline, but it isn’t! “It only makes them hate you.'” 

3. Nagging Parents and Guardian

One explains, “Nagging about everything makes children think they are hated.” A second confesses that he avoids his mom because she wouldn’t stop bickering. 

4. Yelling at the Kids

Retelling a horrific experience in which she almost “startled her child to death,” a mother warned against yelling at children. Another agrees, “I have many bad memories of my stepdad always screaming at me over every little mistake.” Many others state that shouting at a child is bad. 

5. Refusing To Apologize for Mistakes

Refusing to apologize for mistakes is the norm for many parents. For example, a woman’s mom would never apologize, often acting like no mistake was made. In response, one joked, “Why should someone apologize when they believe they ‘did’ nothing wrong?”

6. Starving Children of Attention

People argued about how much attention to give a child. One suggests, “People will always have something to say whether a parent gives maximum attention to children.” However, their claim did not deter others from stating how many parents often ignore their kids, and that’s something to say something about.  

7. Forcing Kids To Be Emergency Adult

One woman confesses she is emotionally unbalanced from the trauma she experienced as a child. Her mother wouldn’t stop sharing “intimacy details between her and the stepdad.” That is inappropriate and disgusting. 

8. Raising Public Nuisance 

Expressing distaste for seeing kids running wild in public, someone says, “parents need to learn to check their kids in check in public spaces.” Others agree “that children should be cautioned to be on their best behavior once outside.”

9. Children With Low Self-Esteem

A child apologizing for everything they do is a sign that they were raised to believe they are always wrong. One shared, “My mom may ignore me for two days instead of four if I wrote her a letter explaining why it wasn’t her fault. I cried.” This gave her the feeling of not being worthy of anyone’s attention. 

10. Parental Emotional Blackmail

Many parents resort to emotional blackmail when their child appears not to be doing what they want. According to one user, parents guilt-trip kids with the feeling that caring for them is the cause of their financial struggles and that they should pay back by showing unbridled loyalty even when they are wrong. 

This thread inspired this post.