We Don’t Respect Children

I came across this meme on Facebook today. I was going to repost with some commentary but the commentary turned into this blog post.
CN: abusive parenting

536645876123725825-twitter

 

(image description: black text against white background reads: My 8-year-old just talked back to me. While she’s at school I’m logging into Minecraft and destroying her fucking village)

 

Look, I don’t care how annoying your kid’s behavior may be. I get it, I really do. But you DO NOT under any circumstances, destroy their things. Destruction of property is a sign of abuse. And yeah, I would count this as destruction of property. The kid spent who knows how long building the village and you’re going to destroy it because you can’t handle your kid standing up for themselves? There are ways to correct behavior that doesn’t involve hurting your child. Think of it this way, if I disagreed with my spouse, would that give my spouse the right to destroy something of mine?

Plus, behavior deemed “bad” is usually caused by some distress to the child. Figure out what it is and work through it. Talk to your kids. Don’t fucking do this. It disturbs me the amount of people sharing this on Facebook and commenting that this is something they’d do. We, as a culture, don’t see children as autonomous beings with fears and dreams like any adult. Why do we think treating children like this is OK and then act surprised when those children grow up to be maladjusted adults? Lots of parents think they own their children and treat them like property. Then when those children are adults who want nothing to do with their parents, those same parents act hurt. I see it every Mothers’ and Fathers’ day. I see children who feel pressure to talk with their parents. I see people shaming those children because we refuse to see parents as people who make mistakes. Some of those mistakes are too awful to forgive.

I get that that this is supposed to be humorous but honestly, where is the humor? Is it funny that I’m threatening my child with violence? (yes, violence, see above), is the humor in the fact that my child is supposed to be afraid of me? If I want my child to not talk back to me, how is doing this going to change that behavior? I’d like my child to respect me, but that won’t happen if I don’t respect her. And you know what? Sometimes kids will do things that will annoy you and down right anger you. It’s your job as the adult to set the example and regulate your emotions. If you feel you can’t handle the behavior at that moment, excuse yourself if possible. Take a breather and go back when you’ve calmed down. You can’t expect your child to exhibit certain behavior if you don’t model it for them.

This meme may seem innocuous on the surface but the people commenting how they’d do this reveal a deeper societal pattern. We just don’t respect kids. If we did, no one would find this funny.

{advertisement}
We Don’t Respect Children
{advertisement}

5 thoughts on “We Don’t Respect Children

  1. 1

    <3 This. And made me think of another article I read today: https://datingtipsforthefeministman.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/the-opposite-of-rape-culture-is-nurturance-culture-2/

    It's amazing how much poor behaviour we expect in parent relationships. I get being a parent is hard and you're bound to fuck up sometimes. But I agree glorifying the poor behaviour as in this meme isn't right. When these poor behaviours are repetitive they create a poor idea of what a close relationship should be like and how we should treat other people. Passive aggression can be funny, but the example here is the sort of dumb, hateful stuff I struggle to keep myself from doing in romantic relationships. It is really unhealthy and not funny at all.

    1. 1.1

      Thank you for reading my blog and commenting!

      If you could please edit out the word “dumb”, I’d appreciate it. It’s an ableist slur and I’d like my blog and comments section to remain a safe space. Thank you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *