Here is my top 10 list of things to NEVER do/say to or about your child-
(as said/done by one of my clients at some point while I was working with them)
10. "What does she need rules for, she's a child?"
9. "I honestly think my child (5-years-old) is a future serial killer."
8. "Sometimes my kids drive me crazy because they won't let me just be a teenager." (Said by a 16-year-old mother of 2.)
7. "I pull her by her hair when she's out of control because it's effective."
6. "One of these days you're gonna wake up and I'll be gone because you will have put me in a coffin because of your bad behavior."
5. "She doesn't like to hear the word, 'No' so we don't say that around her."
4. "We don't use any form of discipline. Do you think that's why she's so out of control?"
3. Mom: "I can't understand why he thinks it's okay to hit when he's mad." Me: "How do you discipline him?" Mom: "Usually smack him across the face."
2. "I can totally understand how some mothers just snap and kill their children, and then regret it because they can't take it back."
And the number one thing to never say to/about your child:
1. "The thing you do best is make people miserable!" (said by a Mom to her 9-year-old daughter).
Oh yes, very sad but true, these exact comments have actually come out of the mouths of some of my parents in my presence...and then they want me to "fix" their children! Never a dull moment in my job!