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Comment by devmor | Hacker News Reader

My uncle (RIP), who was a child psychologist was a staunch proponent of treating his kids with respect and intellectual honesty.

Like most kids, they still got into trouble and had major screw ups in their young lives. However I've never seen anyone who respected their parents more in my life. There were no beatings, no yelling, no destroying or selling of their property as punishment. And wouldn't you know it, when they got in trouble for something they did wrong - they didn't resent their parents for it. They were always expressive that their mistake (or the general view of society that what they did is a mistake) was the problem.

It's hardly empirical evidence but it certainly convinced me.

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i have two boys, 3 and 5. You cannot ignore what they are doing. If one of them starts to something wrong the other one joins so you have a double chance of trouble. And if we are outside and they start to misbehave in public you cannot ignore them. If they start to throw things at objects or people you cannot ignore them. If they start to say things that are not appropriate, you cannot ignore them (they favourite word right now is shit). when they start fighting i cannot ignore it. Im reading those opinions online and cannot at all connect it with what im seeing with my kids.

Of course you have to stop them if they are misbehaving or causing harm. A good book on this topic is "How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7".

"And listen so kids will talk". Very important part!

I’m just finishing “What Do You Say,” which is a follow up to the self driven child. I am really enjoying it and wishing I read both sooner!

> You cannot ignore what they are doing [all the time]

You are obviously correct here and the giant pitfall of parenting advice is generalisation.

Your kids are bickering on a car journey? You have choices in how to respond.

Your kids are throwing stones at passers by? That has to stop right now as fast as you can apply influence with a transition from verbal to physical based on distance.

Don't take anything you read here as gospel. Note the myriad of parenting attitudes and common child behaviours globally. Accept you are doing it wrong, we all have/do/will.

I don't think anyone is saying ignore it, just that how you address it really matters. I grew up with a sibling and we got up to all sorts of trouble/fights and our parents were severe about it. all the punishment did was make sure we didn't do x or y in-front of the parents. Like it did teach me to be a great liar and sneak and we got up to all the hijinks, but I don't think that is the ideal parental outcome despite how well it has served me in life.

I've seen that. Kids just get sneaky and they don't trust their parents.

The comment we're replying said just that:

"Better even is giving positive feedback on positive behavior while of ignoring bad one."

No one told you to ignore them. Why is that the action you default to when you're told that screaming at them, hitting them, etc results in a negative outcome?

To extend he discussion, its safe to assume when a parent screams / hits that the other options didn't work. So it could be helpful to provide an example. Here's a sample scenario: Your toddler throws a rock at a stranger. You ask them to stop. They do it again. You get between them. They throw the rock at you. You restrain them (as gently as possible). They spit at you and then try to bite and scratch you. What next?

(Genuinely curious of your approach, I'm usually out of options at that point).

> Safe to assume when a parent screams / hits that the other options didn't work.

Most of my life experience contradicts this - parents gets angry and emotional, ignore needs of their children, do not think through their actions and do not realise possible alternatives.

I have witnessed parents 'giving away' kids to grandparents, spensong no time with them, and threatening physical punishment for poor gradea instead of offering any help

Lastly, you example is of a kid acting like a feral animal - by the time you get to the point it seems something has already royally fucked up

> Lastly, you example is of a kid acting like a feral animal - by the time you get to the point it seems something has already royally fucked up

Toddlers skip directly to that point with varying frequency and intensity depending on the child. Some will do it for obvious reasons, some will do it for less obvious ones. Some will do it literally at random. It would be great if all toddlers followed a step wise progression from obvious stressor to obvious meltdown, like you read about in the common parenting books, but that's not how they all work.

Of course there are bad parents out there too. But theres also plenty of parents who do everything by the book, never spank, set clear boundaries with clear signals and set good routines. And they get rewarded with random slug fests that come out of nowhere. Parenting is an unimaginably challenging experience for these folks and there's little they can do about it.

im more responding to parent comment, talking about ignoring is better than yelling, you cannot just ignore it. In a given day if you spend time with your children there are situations where that would not work. For example, my wife goes to work early, so it's on me to wake them up ready them and drive to kindergarten before i go to work. I cannot ignore them because im on time pressure, and we have to go. Im not hitting them but threating to take the toys and take them if they wont do. I scream if that does not work. And they still sometimes won't listen.

it's a lot different then what i imagined before i had kids. And the thing is most of people have the same problems. It's just that we all fake it in front of others. Like we are great and so on. But im in the years, where a lot of out friends have children with same experience.

The key to dealing with time pressure is to just start the process earlier (and avoid scheduling things too close together). The solution for hard wake-ups is to go to bed earlier and allow natural light into the sleeping area. In some parts this is basically impossible, though, as mandated start times require waking up before dawn. Pure folly.

If you do issue punishments, try to make them relate to the crime. Take away toys that get thrown at a sibling, or that don't get cleaned up from the hallway, but don't take away toys because the kid refuses to put their shoes on. That's just bullying and it will confuse the child.

Maybe the punishment for being late to school is an hour earlier bedtime that night. This is less of a 'punishment' and more just a rational correction to the problem.

I get what you are saying completely, and completely agree.

I have noticed male children, especially the first born male, who's father is a Psychiatrist end up--well--what's the right phrase? Some seem very angry. It's just something I noticed in my small circle.

I'm probally wrong, but it's something I have noticed.

How many people do you know who are the first-born male child of a male Psychiatrist? I'm thinking your sample size might be a little small to be drawing conclusions :)

(that and, how are you sure you're not experiencing confirmation bias?)

That seemed like an oddly specific filter.

Unless there's some condition that make them more likely to know about first born males of male psychiatrists, I would have bet on "definitely small sample" too

I'd suggest that 1. Psychiatrists and very different to psychologists 2. Intra job variation of personality and parenting style probably exceeds inter job variation 3. Anger at dad may not be a consequence of their job

I had one of each (Psychologist, Psychiatrist) as parents. Could have been worse. Almost no anger 40 years later!

As the first-born son of a psychiatrist, I feel inclined to add the data point that I do not recognize this in myself. I have a fairly neurotic personality, though, maybe that's the word you are looking for? Then again I don't think my father's profession has had a significant impact on my personality.

Maybe it has more to do with a type of personality that professions like psychiatry attract? It's hardly disputed that your parents' personalities tend to rub off on you.

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