Weird stuff that parents do

My friend T and I were talking about the strangest things we parents do, and we came up with a long list together! Here are some of the craziest things that I was particularly weirded out by.

Treat Kids Badly, Then Expect Them to Do the Opposite

How many of us are guilty of the whole “Do as I say and not as I do” move? We’ve all done it. No cursing—god******! Don’t call people names—did you see that idiot cut me off? The worst of all these, I think, is probably when we treat kids badly and then expect them to be better than us. How many times have you yelled—or have you witnessed another parent yelling—at a kid for something stupid, like spilling a drink or tracking in mud? We don’t do these things to our friends, so why would we to our kids? We tell them that we want them to use the “Golden Rule,” yet we break this rule ourselves sometimes. Some parents do it often. And more studies are proving that yelling at kids can be just as harmful as hitting them.

Elf on a Shelf

Holy cow, is this weird. Both T and I have never done this with our kids, but lots of parents do. Have you heard of it? You position an elf doll around the house to “watch” your kid as Christmas approaches to ensure that said child behaves. Talk about creepy. It’s like training your kid to stay in line for teachers, the cops and anyone else in a position of authority—with Chucky. You might argue that people still tell kids that Santa is watching them (which is really no different than a god watching them, right?), but adding a supposedly live doll in the room elevates this “fun tradition” from strange to Tales From the Parenting Crypt weird.

What is the weirdest thing that you think parents do?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia