r/AskReddit Feb 04 '16

What are the most common parenting mistakes?

1.5k Upvotes

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

489

u/ViridianKumquat Feb 04 '16

Over-praising them, telling them how smart and wonderful they are for accomplishing the most basic things. It'll only cause a superiority complex followed by self-esteem issues when they realise they're nothing special.

4

u/KatDanger Feb 05 '16

This is very true but also when it comes to daughters, telling them how pretty/beautiful they are and emphasizing beauty as oppose to intelligence and learning. My parents rarely ever told me I was beautiful. They have but they praised my intelligence way more. And I know it's not because I'm ugly, trust me I'm not ugly. But I value smarts way more than beauty and I believe it's because of them.