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AIBU?

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AIBU to wonder if children should ever feel afraid of parents?

106 replies

Icecreamdreamer · 18/04/2026 15:48

Were you afraid/fearful of your parents growing up in any way and do you think your children feel any of that towards you?

personally I did have a level of fear when my parents told me off/ shouted but I would hate to think my children would ever be afraid of me

edited to add- I don’t think children should ever fear their parents but I know some people who do still parent like this

OP posts:
Nollie · 18/04/2026 15:58

I feared not for myself but for them when I was a child. They exhibited some reckless behaviour when I was growing up. But it sort of amounts to the same thing: a feeling of fear around one's parents.

iamnotalemon · 18/04/2026 15:58

Yes I was and it has affected my life to some extent with relationships.

TheChosenTwo · 18/04/2026 15:56

Fear of my mum kept me pretty much on the straight and narrow. My mum would have been fucking livid if we’d have done some of the stuff our friends did (shoplifting, running away, drugs), I was always too scared of her to make getting involved in any of this stuff feel worth it.
My kids aren’t scared of dh or I and have pretty much on the whole been okay too.
My mum’s strictness and my fear doesn’t seem to have scarred me, we’re really close and I know she raised me the way she knew how and also the reasons she did.

QOrion · 18/04/2026 15:53

Healthy fear is called respect.

Icecreamdreamer · 18/04/2026 15:49

Hannaseed · 18/04/2026 15:49

Children should never fear their parents.

I agree

OP posts:
Hannaseed · 18/04/2026 15:49

Children should never fear their parents.

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