Parenting

Man Breaks Down Why Strict Parents Unwittingly Set Their Children Up For Failure Later In Life

June 4, 2021

2 minute read

We all had that one friend at school who had to be back by 8pm no matter what. Some say putting discipline on their kids is healthy, but when does it become too much?

And although harsh discipline strategies like yelling and spanking are no longer something that millennial parents would tolerate (after often having experienced a fair share of that from their own parents), that doesn’t mean strict parenting tactics have become redundant.

Recently, a Twitter user @theyaobansah shared an illuminating thread on how “having strict parents sets you up for failure later in life.” So he broke down the ways that growing up with strict parents affects your walks of life, like career choices and relationships, and the thread has resonated with many people. Amassing 64.4k likes and 17.3k retweets, it shed light on the scope of damage that overly controlling parents can sometimes cause.

Image credits: theyaobansah

According to the recent survey conducted by Zero To Three, 73% of parents named parenting as their biggest challenge in life. However, when it comes to disciplining their children, parents seem to use a wide range of tactics, but many are not seen as the “most effective” approach in raising kids.

More than half of parents, 57%, said that they honestly struggle with figuring out the most effective way to discipline, while 42% say they do not want to yell or raise their voice as quickly as they do. Moreover, 35% agreed that they lose their temper too fast and that they’re not happy with that.

The same survey showed that parenting styles and approaches are slowly shifting from that of the previous generation’s moms and dads. While moms and dads say that the way they were raised is a primary influence on their own parenting, many say they are more positive and present and use fewer harsher discipline tactics than their own parents used with them.

As a result, roughly half of all millennial and Generation X parents see themselves as being more positive and present, which gives hope that needlessly harsh discipline is finally becoming redundant.