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Do you have children?


Usually this response comes from those who are highlighting their inadequacies as a parent. People don't like to be judged so get defensive.


Not this time, I mostly agree with the comment I was responding to, in general.

However the tone implied a “know-it-all-it’s-easy-just-do-this” solution, which, as everybody who has had children knows, does not exist. Every child is different, and they all respond differently to the same thing.

Furthermore the comment gave explicit orders and judgments of other parents, which, if he is not a parent himself, is completely unacceptable (and even if he is, it is still unacceptable). The rule is simple: never ever judge a parent. You do not know the sh*t they have to deal with (and tbh the same goes for non-parents too…).

Obviously giving advice is completely fair, but the tone matters.


A: “it’s important to communicate honestly with your kids and spend time with them in a way that provides them alternatives to common yet inferior modes of living life”

B: “To suggest such, you must not have kids yourself”

Is someone feeling inadequate? Better to look into the mirror than to try to turn it on those who challenge you



Does my point becomes invalid if I say I don't? I've been a child before.


Or as Hofstetter put it: “If I see a helicopter in a tree, I don’t have to be a pilot to know: Someone fucked up”


But it does not tell you how.


Oh boy, you’ve been a child?! Good for you, you must know what it is to raise one then.

That is truly and desperately stupid, I hope you’re joking.




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