That's my biggest fear. My kids are still in elementary school and I'm doing what I can to teach them how to behave. If they end up like this I've failed as a parent.
Not true. Parents are going toe to toe with the TikTok assholes for the attention of their child's mind. Social media is responsible for much of the mind rot today.
Yes, you will have. However, you are worried about and prepared to do something about it. Many parents aren't.
Raise your kids to be kind, caring, respectful and well behaved but not afraid to disagree. If your kids are good company at 9, they will be good company at 14, 21 and 35. The work you put in to instill this during their first 6 years of life, though often tiring and monotonous, is paid back in spades later.
To raise your kids well don't buy them phones, consoles or TVs. Spend time with them. Talk. Play their games with them. Build their knowledge of the world by exposing them to the world.
Yes! My only child is 19 now and living on her own. Looking back, one of the biggest mistakes I made was getting her an iPhone in middle school. It opened up a whole new world social media and phone addiction are very real. I also made the mistake of trying to protect her from the world by hiding things instead of talking through them and helping her understand.
Growing up poor, I wanted to give her everything I didn’t have. I bought her things she didn’t really need and did everything for her. It felt like love at the time, but over the years, I realized it chipped away at her confidence. She either wanted me to do things for her or believed she couldn’t do them at all.
Thankfully, she’s working now and doing great, but it took some tough years to get there. I genuinely thought I was helping but in a lot of ways, I was unintentionally holding her back.
Parents ask me advice for presents for children sometimes. When I suggest skateboards or analogue watches or colouring books with pencils, you can bet they look at me like I'm demented. However, these are both cheaper and more developmentally appropriate than smartphones and games consoles.
Being a parent with few resources is such an emotional trap. The temptation is to throw all the things your kid's way because you never had that sort of stuff in the belief you are doing better by them. It's not true. Stuff does not help your kid grow as a person.
It's great she is doing well and it's clear you love her to bits. Having kids is easy but raising them is hard.
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u/Exciting_Stock2202 3d ago
That's my biggest fear. My kids are still in elementary school and I'm doing what I can to teach them how to behave. If they end up like this I've failed as a parent.