How to raise kids without repeating your own dysfunctional childhood
Growing up amid constant bickering and high-friction family environments makes it difficult to know what healthy parenting actually looks like in practice. Without a baseline for normal dynamics, parents are left guessing which day-to-day attitudes and behaviors will build a genuinely positive foundation for their own children.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Increasing disposable income
- 2Maintaining personal hobbies and involving children in them
- 3Leading by example through choosing fun activities
- 4Modeling and teaching emotional repair skills and effective apologizing
- 5Asking online communities or peers to describe their family dynamics and childhood experiences
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Wife and I grew up in unhappy families - constant bickering, complaining, snapping at each other etc.”source ↗
“Now we have two young kids and we want to be the latter. I think we're off to a good start but I'm thinking about the long term and concious of the role of the parents - what attitudes and behaviours from parents are helpful in providing a happy foundation for the family?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How to cope with being one and done against your choice
- 3How to leave a family business without losing financial stability
- 6How to deal with manipulative and controlling parents
- 6What to do when grandparents undermine your parenting
- 5How to stop worrying about your adult child's lifestyle choices
- 5How to stop being too overbearing in my child's relationships