49 Horrible Parenting Mistakes Anyone Should Avoid Doing To Their Children

Telling the kid they can always be honest and tell the truth, then going nuclear when they do.

Making fun of or teasing them for their romantic interests. Adolescents aren't confident. They already feel foolish. It's like kicking a pet. And it can have the effect of delaying and ruining their confidence with romantic interests.

Making them "finish their plate," every time, regardless. Shaming them for eating too much / too little.

Best way to encourage an eating disorder at an early age.

Shaming the kids for mistakes they make such as bed wetting, spilling things, etc. people make mistakes and kids need to know it’s okay to mess up sometimes.

Berating them when they have different opinion than yours. This forces them to keep their thoughts to themselves.

Just generally treating kids like they're somehow below you. Everyone's just as much of a person, and generally speaking people all have a similar capacity for intelligence. Your kids aren't dumber than you and they don't have to arbitrarily reach a certain age to be your equal, the only reason they don't know as much as you is they haven't been around as long as you have/haven't had the life experiences you've had.

You don't have to dumb yourself down to deal with kids, you just have to approach things in a way that makes sense to them based on where they are in life.

Not being present when they are excited about anything. On your phone, txting, watching tv, playing games etc.

Kids are exploring their world and making discoverys all the time. This is the perfect opportunity to boost up their self esteem by encouraging and telling them how smart and awesome they are. Its also a great bonding experience where they will look up to you.

Nothing more defeating than finding a discovery and then getting in trouble for it.

When losing an argument the parent doubles down and doesn’t acknowledge they may be wrong. Like ever.

Something- problem with authority figures -something.

Basing their entire worth on achievement.


How many "smart kids" from elementary school do you know that have trash mental health now? Probably a lot.

Forcing an older child to wait a certain amount of time before they are granted a luxury and then not making a younger sibling wait that same amount of time before they get that same luxury.

It teaches the older child that the younger is the favorite and leads to a lot of resentment from the older child both towards the parents and the younger sibling.

Not allowing your child to be angry. I see it so many times with friend’s kids or relatives. Children get mad and react and the adult immediately says something along the lines of “fix your attitude”. Children have emotions too and need to be taught to express and work through them in order to be a part of civilized society.

Using your kid as a joke. Like doing or saying something to get a reaction out of them for an audience.

Using your kid as your therapist. Your kid will want to make you feel better, and they might be very good at emotional support. It'll seem easy. The fallout doesn't happen until a decade or two down the road. You're there to support your kid, not the other way around.

Helicopter parenting. Mine was to the point of total isolation. I wasn’t allowed to go to school (I got pulled out and home schooled), go in my backyard, or even visit friends without a parent present until I was 18.

Screaming at your child until they don’t know right from left then being overtly kind to pull them in closer.
Breeds all sorts of anger issues, trust issues and resentment.

Continually bragging about things your child is not proud of to other people. Cheapens the experience being shared, & the annoyance company inevitably feels makes you afraid of the limelight. The connection with the parent also feels more superficial.

Any kind of “being harder to make them hard” kind of treatment. I get saying “no” when necessary but teaching a child that the pain their own family inflicts on them is for the sake of growth will either make the child passive or feel like a martyr.

Playing the victim card whenever something goes wrong. The child will adopt a similar reaction to problems when they occur and no one will get anywhere productively.

Never accepting your kid is right and that you are wrong sometimes. Never letting your kid gain confidence in their opinion.
Sometimes, you owe your kid a big apology and don’t get mad when your kid speaks back to you, it’s called a debate.

Here's an iPad, now leave me alone.

Being too focused on money.

We were lower middle class growing up, but my mom was always so fixated on how much everything cost that it kind of messed me up. Even though I’m comfortably middle class, probably upper middle class, I still find myself focused on the price of everything. I can’t bring myself to buy anything full price even though I can afford it. I have a hard time throwing things away because I spent money on them or because they could be reused.

Divorced parents;
DO NOT USE YOUR CHILDREN AS LEVERAGE!
DO NOT TEACH YOUR KIDS TO HATE THE OTHER PARENT

I can not all caps enough! My parents went through a divorce so messy it was in iur state newspapers. My mother treated me and my sister as property not children, and she attempted to teach us to hate our father.
I spent years influences by this. When I lived on my own as an adult I realized just how messed it all was. Thankfully my dad is literally the nicest person in the world it just took forever to realize it...
It messes up kids for years, self-esteem issues, emotional growth, and overall a jaded perspective. Please don’t.