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5 Modern Versions of Tired Parenting Cliches
Don’t ask your kid how their day was
Most parents have a list of phrases they heard and hated in childhood — and then vowed never to use on their own kids. Things that annoyed them, or frustrated them, or just felt like an arbitrary imposition of rules: Because I said so. Don’t make me turn this car around. If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you?
Of course, there will come a time when you find yourself exhausted, exasperated, and out of ideas — and, to your horror, you’re uttering the same things that once made your eyes roll.
Below, parenting experts explain five ways to get language on your side by giving some old cliches a new spin.
Old phrase: “How was your day?”
Of course you want to ask your kid about their day; you care. It’s possibly the most-asked question in the history of parenting — but maybe also the most likely to yield an unsatisfying answer.
Clinical psychologist Wendy Mogel, PhD, says it can be helpful for parents to remember that kids have already had a full day by the time they get home to report on it. “They have do a lot of code-switching to get through their day, and they’re exhausted,” she says. “They don’t want to do it all again for you.” Young people have to present…
