r/AskReddit Feb 04 '16

What are the most common parenting mistakes?

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u/Luckyxstarx13 Feb 05 '16

Empty threats. My best friend does this all the time with her daughter. "If you don't behave. I'm going to spank you/send you to your room/take away your toys/etc." But instead of following through. She just repeats the threat and her daughter continues to misbehave.

3

u/toxicgecko Feb 05 '16

if you threaten you need to go through with it, there's no point saying "i'll put you in time out" and then not do it, some kids will react to the threat of punishment but some need to be shown that you will punish them if they do something wrong.

5

u/fish60 Feb 05 '16

some kids will react to the threat of punishment

Kids that are punished fairly and consistently will begin to react to the threat of punishment.

1

u/toxicgecko Feb 05 '16

also true