My experience is similar to yours, and the principle i have always followed is that one should treat children as if they are the people one would like them to be. Treat them like little shits, and they become little shits, manipulate them and they become manipulators, respect them and they become respectful, in just the same way that if you speak Spanish to them, they will become Spanish speakers. — unenlightened
Your post is basically just saying "Give me the evidence, but oh, if you do, I won't believe it anyway cause it's just a matter of interpretation, and even if there was undeniable evidence, I wouldn't care anyway and would insist that my way is better." — NKBJ
if I came across a study that said something I'm doing towards loved ones has some sort of adverse effect I was unaware of, then I would seriously reconsider my actions. — NKBJ
For example, you stop toddlers from eating sweets, because they are not mature enough to stop eating when they get sick from it or when they gain unhealthy amounts of weight. — NKBJ
Eat what you want" is heard as "I don't care about your health." — NKBJ
if you continually re-negotiate reasonable boundaries with them, they hear "I respect your growing autonomy, but I still care deeply about your well-being and want you to be healthy and safe." — NKBJ
But rejecting a hands-off approach to parenting does not mean embracing a "tiger parenting" aka authoritarian parenting, which has also been shown to have negative effects on children. — NKBJ
making it sound like it's unreasonable to question authority groups...scary! — Pseudonym
They don't just randomly do unhealthy things, they copy. If you're stuffing your face with chocolates and telling the child not to, you're on a hiding to nothing — Pseudonym
us adults are the arbiters of what's healthy and safe? Have you seen the world recently? — Pseudonym
Well yes, there are other possibilities for a relationship than bullying and neglect. Thank goodness! — unenlightened
Questioning them as a layperson without (so far as has been presented here) any evidence to do so, and thus exposing children to your own (seemingly) crackpot theories, is what I would call scary, actually. — NKBJ
Since children are exposed to aggressive advertising everywhere — NKBJ
their own biological drives tell them to consume calories — NKBJ
Drug addicts, smokers, and drinkers are proof that humans of all ages do not necessarily heed the fact that things have been labelled "dangerous." — NKBJ
We have an obligation therefore to steer our most vulnerable and inexperienced in the right direction, and until they are old enough, that includes making decisions for them. — NKBJ
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