Parenting is not easy. Any parent will tell you that. And the latest discoveries that disrupt existing methods and paradigms certainly don\’t help. In general, people do not like change very much. Especially when it is something that has been drilled deeply into their heads, such as not how to raise children.

Already there is little acceptance of the observation that corporal punishment serves no purpose and is basically just to reassure parents. Even though this is not a new finding, and even though it has been confirmed by the results of many different studies, there are still many who dispute this. Interestingly, none of them are experts.

So one can imagine the controversy surrounding the latest claim that children should not have a voice. Yet this is exactly one of the basic parenting practices used by virtually everyone. We think of it as a clear way to let them know that what they are doing is wrong. However, this turns out to have unintended consequences on the child\’s psyche.

First of all, we need to know exactly what we are informing the child and what emotions we are evoking. The main emotion in this case is fear, albeit latent. This is especially true for small children. And as has been clearly demonstrated, fear is counterproductive to learning. And while it may not seem so, in this case we want to teach the child something. But it won\’t work if they are afraid.

We also need to consider the long-term effects. Because if children are exposed to this frequently, the consequences will remain. First of all, self-esteem will be lowered. This is far from ideal, especially today, if the child is to succeed anywhere in life. Furthermore, if they come to fear authority and one day actually become an authority, that is not good either. So when raising a child, it is definitely advisable to consider what is best for the child in the long run.