To ask if a parent should apologise?

[LittleLionMansMummy]

As I've got older I've realised more and more that neither of my parents, mostly my mum, never admit to being wrong, nor apologise to me or my sisters for anything. This has always been the case.

Now, I generally have a really good relationship with them - they are warm, generous, loving, kind people. But they are also quite stubborn, jump to inaccurate conclusions and entrenched in some of their opinions.

Something happened over Christmas that prompted me to really stand up for myself with them for probably the first time. They always expect apologies for perceived injustices, but are never forthcoming with them.

Me and dh always assess our reactions in hindsight with our own children and, when we've overreacted, or behaved less and perfectly, we've apologised - explaining that even adults get it wrong sometimes. We take steps to put things right.

This has all got me thinking about whether there is a consensus opinion on whether parents should apologise to young children or not. Admittedly I'm an adult now, but I think a lot of parents probably continue to think it's their prerogative to be 'right' all the way into adulthood.

I apologise to my DC when there's a need. I can't expect them to learn how to admit to screwups and mistakes if I can't do it myself, and I'm a big believer that the better I model my own reactions, the better they handle theirs.

My DM absolute refuses to apologise for everything even when it’s clear she’s made a mistake

It may be a bit ambitious to expect her to apologise for everything when she’s only made one mistake.

My parents are in their 80’s and have never once apologised for anything. I’m in my 50’s and have parented in a different way as times have changed. I have And and do still apologise to mine when I’ve got it wrong or unintentionally hurt them. My dd is in her 30’s and, of course, parenting has moved forward even more. Her ds expects her to apologise if she’s made a mistake! Children are now treated much more as equally important and spoken to, on the whole, much more respectfully than when I was a child. Sadly to say my parents, lovely as they are, are still of the mind set that what they, as parents, say goes even now