There’s nothing wrong with talking to your kids about certain things in life that you feel they need to know. After all, you don’t want to shelter them from the harshness of reality. But, as a parent, where do you draw the line?
How much should you be sharing with your kids? And how do you know what you should discuss with them and what you shouldn’t discuss with them?
Thankfully, we’ve assembled a list of topics that you don’t need to discuss with your kids! After reading a similar list compiled by Parent Society, we figured we’d share our own thoughts and opinions on the matter.
Let’s take a look at some of the important topics you shouldn’t be discussing with your kids:
1. Money
This is a pretty general topic, so let me clarify: you shouldn’t be discussing your income, taxes, and expenses with your kids. You want your kids to grow up cautious and aware of finances, and appreciative of money. However, that doesn’t mean you need to scare them and make them worry about money. It can have some permanent effects on them and even cause them to deal with stress as an adult!
Conversely, if money isn’t necessarily a problem for your family, you still don’t want kids flaunting how much you make, or how expensive their clothes are to their friends. This can be alienating and is generally a bad quality in a person going forward.
2. Grievances/fights with your partner
As a parent, you’ll more than likely fight with your partner. It’s almost expected to happen every now and then. That doesn’t mean you should go vent to your kids. You don’t need to involve your kids in fights with your partner no matter how severe or trivial they are.
Your kids need to see that no relationship goes unblemished, so it’s okay for them to know you’re fighting (within reason of course). Though, you also don’t even need to involve your kids in the dirty details of each fight. It can cause them to develop a certain view of your partner, or even you. It can also be very emotionally taxing for them to have to empathize with one parent and thinking less of another.
3. Thoughts on their educators
Your kids are going to have a lot of teachers throughout their educational endeavours. With such a large sample size of educators, it’s very possible that you may not be overly fond of a few of them. Just because you don’t particularly care for one or more aspects of their teachers doesn’t mean they have to know.
This can be very detrimental to your child’s development because they may grow a lack of disrespect for that teacher. It can also allow your child to discredit that teacher and not pay attention or learn anything from them. You may not like a teacher, and in some cases, you might have to put your foot down, but for the most part, it’s best to keep your thoughts to yourself for the sake of your child’s education.
4. Your regrets
Your kids need to learn the invaluable lesson that no one is perfect and that we all make mistakes. They need to know that they can learn from mistakes, so never shy away from teaching them about important mistakes you’ve made in your past and how you corrected them.
That said, you certainly don’t need to fill them in on every little regret you have or every mistake you’ve ever made. It can be a little much for them to understand. In some cases, you may even be putting a damper on the brightness of their childhood. They don’t need to hear about your regrets, they need to live their own lives.
5. What you think of their friends’ parents
Image source: iStock
Just like your kids will have handfuls of teachers over the years, they’ll also have handfuls of friends. Handcuffed to those friends are their parents, and you’ll more than likely not care too much for at least one set of parents. Just because you don’t agree with the way they raise their kids, you don’t agree with their political views, or you simply don’t like them does NOT mean your kids have to know.
For the sake of your kids, you need to keep your thoughts to yourself. Kids benefit greatly from having good friends. It would be a shame if you jeopardized their friendship with someone simply because you can’t keep your thoughts to yourself.
It’s also important that your kids learn how to develop their own thoughts and opinions. Your kids might even agree with what you have to say, but you shouldn’t be the reason why they agree with you!
If you have any insights, questions or comments regarding the topic, please share them with us!