thechekhov:

For those of you who interact with kids on a daily basis, here’s a hot take from your friendly neighborhood elementary school teacher:

Fear of authority is not a replacement for common sense. 

I’m gonna make this short because I’m tired. Basically, here’s the deal – kids need routine and they need boundaries and they need rules. That’s all good and healthy.

But if your kid’s only reason for not doing ‘bad stuff’ is “My parents are gonna beat me if I do” then guess what! Your child is not actually well adjusted. You are actively stunting their emotional and psychological growth by not giving them the tools to deal with real-world problems through logical reasoning. 

If your child fucks up, it’s YOUR responsibility to sit that child down and start fixing that mistake by, first and foremost, letting them know WHY they did something wrong. Through words. Not through violence.

Because they need real-world tools to learn how to talk themselves into a solution, instead of getting into the habit of beating the shit out of THEMSELVES as a coping tactic long after their parents are gone.

The same goes for emotional and verbal abuse, by the way.