"Picture this: I'm at a family barbecue last summer, and my cousin's seven-year-old daughter runs up to show her mom a drawing she made. "That's nice, honey, but the sun doesn't have a face," her mom says absently while scrolling through her phone. The little girl's shoulders drop, and she quietly walks away. Two hours later, when I ask her about her drawing, she says, "Mom thinks I'm bad at art.""
"Those throwaway comments our parents made that somehow stuck with us decades later. Maybe you still remember when your dad said you were "too sensitive" or when your mom mentioned you were "the smart one, not the pretty one" in the family. These moments that parents forget within minutes can shape how kids see themselves for a lifetime. According to child development experts, children's brains are like recording devices, especially when it comes to comments from their parents."
A brief dismissive comment from a parent can cause immediate shame and long-term self-doubt in a child. Children absorb parental words as information about their worth, abilities, and place in the family. Casual comparisons, labels such as "too sensitive", or characterizing a child as "the smart one, not the pretty one" can undermine self-esteem and foster sibling rivalry. Parents may forget these remarks within minutes, but children may replay and internalize them. Children's brains respond like recording devices to parental feedback, storing verbal cues that shape identity, emotional responses, and confidence into adulthood.
Read at Silicon Canals
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]