15 Harsh Truths Parents Need To Accept

“If you judge your children too much they will learn to hide things from you.” — Bigstar976

“Apologizing won’t kill you. It’s better to be respected than feared. Your kids can have different opinions than you. You can be a parent and a friend.” — Strong-Second-2446

“Above all else, YOU should be the safest person for your child. You should make it safe for them to be themselves. You should make it safe for them to have bad days or bad emotions. You should make it safe for them to exist. Because if you don’t make it safe for them when they’re a kid, it’s really hard for them to find safety in themselves as an adult.” — Dismal_Celery_325

“If your kid needs help, speech therapy, tutoring, medication, occupational therapy, etc…it is NOT a reflection on YOU personally. Sometimes kids struggle. That’s okay. Making sure your kid has ALL the tools they need to succeed is your responsibility as a parent.” — bookluvr83

“Your oldest child is not your younger children’s parent.” — ThunderStruck115

“Sometimes their kids have valid opinions and instead of interrupting them and pulling the ‘because I said so’ and ‘that’s just how it is’ cards, they could listen to their child and make them feel heard instead of suppressed.” — LifeHarvester

“Your kid is an individual. There is a good chance that their interests, hobbies, and passions are going to be different from yours. Support and encourage your kids to be themselves and not a mini-you. Also, for the love of god have a conversation about how you and your partner plan on raising your kid. My parents had such drastically different (and bad in their own ways) parenting styles. It was really confusing.” — whateverimtootired

“There’s a time when you need to let your kids make mistakes, so they can learn from them. Life is pretty short, so if they have a goal, let them go for it.” — Vulcaype

“Children are not your property, nor your employees.” — Vinaguy2

“You don’t get to relive your life through them.” — JoshNIU22896

“An easy way to get your child to start lying to you is by accusing them of lying when your kid is telling you the truth.” — shf500

“The older your children get, the more autonomy you need to grant them.” — hotheadeduser

“Some parents need to accept that a whole day of shopping with the little kid isn’t realistic, and that instead, you just need to do what you can and take them home if they’re screaming and crying, especially if they’re little. Little kids especially have a limit. They won’t be able to handle a full day of shopping for a while. Don’t push the kid to the point of screeching, screaming, and crying and expect them to continue. It makes them, you, and everybody else miserable.” — Mothman-will-rise

“Spoiling your kid too much can leave them really unprepared for the real world. They can end up really useless, or a complete asshole who genuinely thinks the world revolves around them. At some point you need to teach them they aren’t king/queen of the world, they need to fend for themselves eventually.” — [deleted]

“You as a parent are responsible for teaching your kids proper manners and common decency. Not their teachers/tutors/babysitters/etc.” — TrinixDMorrison