What seemingly harmless parenting habit is actually messing up your kids.

Never saying sorry to them. My mom only just recently started telling me sorry when she gets worked

up about something. It's built up such a resentment for her over the years, and I also have

trouble saying sorry myself because of it. Tell your kids sorry, especially if you overreact

to something they did.

Not following through with your promises.

If you told your child you were buying ice cream tomorrow in the hopes that they'd forget,

and the next day when they ask you, you tell them no, they'll see you as unreliable.

I taught my children at a very young age that outside of extreme circumstances, failing

to keep a promise made, is the same as telling a lie. Therefore, I won't

make promises to them that I'm not absolutely certain I can keep. They learned early in life that I

take my promises very seriously and I'll go to great lengths to honor them. We've hit very hard times

recently and I've had to delay delivery on some promises which breaks my heart. But they know

that I'll fulfill those

promises eventually, and they're much more empathetic and understanding than their peers have

been in similar situations. I found that when my parents teased me about stuff that I was clearly

uncomfortable with, it made me tell them less later in life. I have a good relationship with my

parents, but I don't tell them lots about my life, because it's easier if they don't know or tease about it. Same for me. It was usually mild stuff like,

ooh, he has a crush on a girl, or something like that. But I hated the attention and it made

me uncomfortable. Later in my 20s, when I met my wife, she couldn't understand why I was so secretive.

I'm pretty sure it's from that.

I just stopped telling people things and still don't tell my parents everything that's going on

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