Sociopathic children are, for the most part, a product of the environment and unhealthy parenting. You may be surprised to learn that some common parenting ideas may turn your kid into a sociopath.

We all have our views on how to parent our children, and it can become a contentious issue if someone else tries to advise us. Most parents want the best for their child and try to raise them to become well-balanced human beings.

However, despite our best intentions, there are still some ideas about how to raise a child that might not be in the child’s best interests. In fact, they may result in the opposite of who you want your child to grow into.

Recent studies suggest that some parenting ideas actually have the capacity to create sociopathic children. And, if you think the parenting techniques are extreme and harmful, then you’d be surprised.

Many are typical of how parents are bringing up their children. On the surface, they appear good for the child, but they are, in reality, extremely damaging. Here are 5 parenting traps that could turn your child into a sociopath:

No boundaries

It’s been long established by child psychologists that children need clear and firm boundaries in order to grow up into healthy and well-balanced young adults.

If parents do not set limits or boundaries, they are more or less telling their children that they can do what they like. Children who have been raised with no limits tend to be self-centred, selfish, uncaring of others, self-indulgent, greedy and insensitive.

The reason some parents do not set clear boundaries is that they think it will stifle a child’s potential, or they may just think it is wrong to prevent their children from expressing themselves. It is much better to set clear boundaries early on so a child knows where their limits are.

No consequences

Typically, if a child plays up or does something bad, they are suitably punished. When a child is never punished for their actions, they will grow up to believe that they are above everyone else, are special and should be given special treatment.

Parents usually don’t punish their children because they feel it might harm the child in some way, but in fact, the opposite is true. A child has to learn that wrongdoings will lead to consequences as it makes them more responsible for their own actions if they are punished.

If you never punish your child, they will grow up with no sense of right and wrong, or remorse for what they’ve done as they haven’t learned by their mistakes as a child.

Idealizing behaviour

Parents that are always telling their children they are fantastic or that their achievements are amazing do a great deal of damage to a child’s sense of worth. This is especially if the parent then goes on to minimise or not place any importance on destructive or bad behaviour.

The child will end up with a completely skewed version of their self-worth and identity, believing that they are greater than they actually are and that they can get away with things that other people cannot.

It’s all very well to build up a child’s self-esteem, but by constantly flattering a child’s mediocre achievements, they are more likely to create an egomaniac who thinks they are special above all others.

Inappropriate protection

A parent that stands up for their child, no matter what they have done wrong, is only going to teach that child one thing: that the rules of society do not mean anything for them as they are protected.

Parents think that by sticking up for their children, whether it be bullying, lying, cheating, conning or hurting others, is right because their precious child could not have possibly done anything wrong. The truth is that the longer they protect their child from the outside world, the more likely that child will turn into a predator such as a sociopath.

No values

If a child does not know the difference between right and wrong, if they have not been told about good morals, ethical behaviour, being compassionate to others and showing kindness, they themselves will not be able to learn these characteristics. They will grow up into sociopathic children and, subsequently, adults with no empathy and an inability to care about other people.

All of these techniques will only help a child to learn that they are superior to everyone else and as such, normal rules do not apply to them.

If you want your child to grow up as a well-balanced, caring member of society, then you should avoid all these parenting traps that create sociopathic children, and treat your child the same as everyone else.

If you don’t, you might just create a sociopath instead.

References:

  1. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Mary

    This is so true! My mother raised my sister to be a sociopath by always allowing her to lie and steal without consequences. Anytime she stole money (even large amounts) when she was a child, my mother would believe her “stories” and never hold her accountable to the truth and make her give the money back, even when I told her what really happened. She was made to feel special and entitled. As an adult, she has no conscience. She takes advantage of other people and is still dishonest, always lying and using and manipulating people. She has raised her oldest daughter to think she, too, is special, and above the rules.

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