Can You Really F-Up Your Kids? Parenting Myths, Mistakes, and the Truth About Raising Teens

All parents worry about traumatizing their children. The truth is, if you’re a present parent who makes your child feel loved, screwing them up isn’t very likely! Today on Sh*t Your Teenagers Won’t Tell You, we discuss whether or not you can f-up your kids. In this conversation, you’ll find out why we believe it’s quite difficult to f-up your children, the complex combination of factors that typically cause dysfunction, how to ensure your child feels loved, accepted, important, and prioritized, and much more! We delve into finding a balance between over-parenting and under-parenting and why you can’t expect your teens to think and act like adults. We also explore why making mistakes won’t damage your children, important reasons to stay curious as a parent, and why constantly criticizing your children is probably the only thing that will actually screw them up. Thanks for tuning in!

Key Points From This Episode:

• [0:03:24] Today’s topic of discussion: how not to f-up your kids!
• [0:04:24] Why traumatizing your children is quite unlikely. 
• [0:06:39] How a combination of factors causes dysfunction in youth, not a single thing. 
• [0:07:54] Why it’s imperative that your child feels love and acceptance to develop healthily. 
• [0:10:28] Finding the happy medium between over-parenting and under-parenting. 
• [0:14:59] The dangers of expecting your teenager to think and act like an adult. 
• [0:19:09] Why you don’t need to get everything right all the time as a parent. 
• [0:20:47] The importance of staying curious in parenting and including teens in decisions. 
• [0:24:50] Defining what high expectations and high support mean to us. 
• [0:27:15] One surefire way to make your child feel unloved: criticize them. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Sh*t Your Teenagers Won’t Tell You

Sh*t Your Teenagers Won’t Tell You on Instagram