5 extreme things parents do make their kids like what they like

Parenting is not the easiest of tasks. You’re always afraid of how your child is going to grow up, and you want to have a say in things like your child’s opinion, thoughts, and beliefs. Sub-consciously parents do a lot of things to try to influence their children’s likes and dislikes. This is because some of them want their children to like similar things as they do as they do and dislike the same things as they do. This way, all their Instagram pictures together would be #FamilyGoals. These things are sometimes harmless and have little to no effect on the child’s preferences in the future.

So, let’s see what some of these things that parents (even you) might be doing…

1. Cutting off options

We don’t mean cutting off things like career options or other important life decisions, but in small things like the choice of color, the curtains in your kid’s room should be. Or, going to a store and conveniently showed only your favorite snacks to your child is common for parents to do. It’s okay to admit it, every parent does it! When you become a parent, everything suddenly becomes about your child, so the only way to do what you enjoy doing or eat where you enjoy eating is by making sure that your child enjoys the same things. 

2. Incentives

Giving an incentive to kids is the equivalent of paying a bribe to an adult. The right incentive can get a lot of work done, and parents have it all figured out. The famous Pavlov’s Dog Experiment is put into play at a lot of homes to make sure kids develop favorable feeling towards whatever their parents want. “If you come out for a walk with me, I’ll buy you juice”. Sounds familiar? Even the best of parents do it, as you just want something to do with your kiddo. We’re not judging you.

3. Instigate fear

This is a common trick parents use when they are trying to get their little one to go to bed. Soon enough though, parents start to use this fear of the policeman or the ghost that takes away children to get your kids to sleep. We know you only do this for their good, but it is important that you don’t make them scared children in the process.

4. Influence the opinions

More often than not, when your child wants something that you don’t like, you come up with this elaborate explanation as to why that thing is absolutely terrible for them. If your child is very young, then this doesn’t take much effort. A couple of silly faces showing disgust does the trick. However, if you have an older kid, then you let out the Stephen King in you and create a mastermind story, telling them how whatever may work on them.

5. Emotional blackmail

If Bollywood has taught us anything, it is that a little blackmail goes a long way. Parents have the standard statement, “After everything I have done for you, if you still want to do whatever you want, then it’s up to you”. Of course, in each language, this sentence is modified a little differently, but the context is usually the same. It is every parent’s favorite dialogue.

So, how many of these things do you do?