30 Things People Still Teach Their Kids That Are Not Only Wrong But Also Harmful

Abstinence only sex education. Please teach these kids about contraception and how it works, it’s been proven that comprehensive sex education is way better at preventing teen pregnancies than abstinence only.

To just ignore bullies. As a former teacher, it does nothing to address the issue. The bullying persists 100% of the time.

“Stranger Danger” it has some decent basic principles about safety, but the unfortunate truth is we need to teach children how to detect if adults in their life are treating them inappropriately just as much as strangers

That play ends when you reach adulthood. Play is important, even when we're grown.

Stop teaching kids *what to think*, and start teaching them *how to think.*

That failure is something to be ashamed of and to avoid at all costs. We all fail sometimes and we need to be able to accept that.

If he’s mean to you, he likes you

That you are only successful and happy with a college degree, married, and have children.

That you have to give relatives a hug or kiss if they ask for one.

You can get what you want if you’re nice.
It teaches children how to be manipulative & dishonest.

Instead, teach them to handle “No”.

Too many people grow up and get offended at being told “No”.

Teachers & Parents want their children to learn how to ask for things in a polite way - but not how to handle rejection.

My brother teaches children and he will actively tell kids “No” and encourage them to find alternative solutions that don’t infringe on someone’s decision.

Family is everything. No sometimes their trash and need to be let go of.

that there are ‘things for girls’ and ‘things for boys’
(like colors, toys, etc)

Food pyramid as it is. It's wrong.

That it's acceptable to use devices in public loudly without headphones

That ugly = bad/evil. I partially blame TV animation for this one though. This often makes kids fear elderly people and make unfair connections between appearance and personality.

That while they are special, they are not any more special than anyone else.

I don’t believe in forced apologies. They’re not legitimate apologies and the other child knows this. I also don’t feel adults should force children to accept an apology. Forced apologies and acceptances don’t have any benefits.

I am a 3rd grade teacher. My students know I won’t force an apology. Instead, I speak to the students about their choices and how it made others feel. I’ve found that, once students realize what they did, they do apologize on their own and the other student does accept it because they know the apology is sincere. Often times, students will even try to resolve the issue on their own. It’s common for students to ask me if they could speak alone in the hallway. They then return proudly stating that they resolved their issue.

Obviously, if something is not resolving itself, I’ll continue to help students through it. I will also step in for more significant disagreements. However, I’ve found that students are able to resolve issues an overwhelming majority of times. However, they are never truly resolved with forced apologies and acceptances of forced apologies because the underlying issue is still there.

That girls are weak or too emotional (I.e. crying like a girl or don’t be a p*ssy)

Gender stereotypes.

My son asked me why he didnt have pretty dresses like me. I couldn’t answer his question, i asked him if he wanted to wear dresses like me. He said yes and i sew him one. He’s so happy!

That Santa gives presents to "good" kids. When rich kids get a bunch of Christmas presents and poor kids don't, we're basically telling children that it is because the poor kids are bad and the rich kids are good.