Ways by which parents can unintentionally harm their children while growing up

Often parents try to provide us with the best way of parenting and still can unintentionally harm us while we grow up. Not always bad parenting or harmful parenting needs to come from dysfunctional homes. Sometimes being too mindful while parenting can also unintentionally harm the children. "Your parents could have been trying their absolute hardest, and yet they still could have made deeply hurtful mistakes. In fact, they may have even been following all the best parenting books and listening to all the experts at the time on parenting… And still, that doesn’t mean their actions didn’t hurt you," wrote Therapist Morgan Pommells as she explained how unintentionally parents can harm us.

"Continuing to invalidate yourself with but they tried their best or but they don’t even see the issue so I must be making it up isn’t going to help you here. It’s okay to pause and let yourself just be hurt. Your wounds don’t go away just because they may have been caused unintentionally," the expert added. Here are a few ways by which parents can unintentionally harm us.

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Viewing children as an extension of themselves: This thought can lead to toxic parenting behavior patterns. When parents start to see us as an extension of themselves, they start to practice more restricted and controlling parenting.

Hoping for children to succeed in ways that they didn’t: When parents start to put the burden of accomplishments that they couldn't achieve, it puts a lot of pressure on the children, and robs them of their individuality.

Invalidating the child's emotional experiences: often, because the parent cannot see their child upset, they invalidate the experiences and the emotions – this makes the child suppress the difficult emotions instead of addressing them.

Enforcing the belief system: Without asking for the consent of the child, parents often enforce their belief system on the child.