Mom teaches her son to not be a 'people pleaser' — and all parents should take notes

Most people seek validation for literally everything in life. While it is natural to crave approval, particularly from loved ones, making it the ultimate foundation of your self-worth can be disastrous. Likewise, Gee Gee Davidson (@queenn_gee on TikTok) shared an incredible video where she taught her child an important lesson about "No people pleasing." Her meticulous approach allowed Davidson to teach her son a valuable life lesson in an engaging and meaningful way. 

"People pleasing is when you seek approval and validation from other people, even when it makes you unhappy," she explained while her son sat attentively, hanging on to every word. To make her child understand how people pleasing can negatively affect his personality, Davidson came up with a brilliant activity. She showed three cups, two of which had water and represented different versions of her son, and the third one with dirt represented people who might bombard their opinions on him. Further, Davidson labeled the water cups as one that symbolizes confidence and self-love and the other as one that symbolizes low self-esteem.

With hypothetical examples based on daily life, she explained how if her son tried to fit in the society and not express his true desires, he would only let the negativity define him. "The reason that you do that is because you are seeking approval from them. You don't want to be the odd one out. So you let their negativity get inside of you," Davidson said as she poured dirt into the "people pleaser" water cup. "So always be true to who you are. Don't worry about what other people have to say, even me, your own family. Don't let us dim your light," she added. People pleasing can often be dangerous, even when it involves family. To explain this, Davidson shared an example involving herself.

She asked her son about his reaction if supposedly they were at a store where he really liked a T-shirt, but his mother didn't approve of it. "No! I should speak up and say, 'Well, I like it,'" the young child said with newfound confidence. "When you are so worried about other people's thoughts and opinions, you allow them to infect you. And then you are unhappy and doing things that other people think you should do instead of doing what you truly want to do," Davidson added. Moreover, she passed her son the cup of clean water, free from dirt or rocks, and asked him how it made him feel.

"I feel good. I think that if somebody says they don't like how I am, they don't like my hair, then I am allowed to say, 'Well, that's your opinion. You don't have to be around me. I am not going to listen to your opinions. That doesn't matter to me,'" the child said. Meanwhile, reacting to the video, @kandalys commented, "I wish I was taught this growing up, you did a wonderful job explaining." @milenmilenumilena wrote, "Omg! He is so well-mannered! You are doing a GREAT job!" @ashlynpsychic wrote, "This is gentle parenting and this is how a child is supposed to be raised." Similarly, @0fficialria wrote, "The way he keeps eye contact, you can tell he's actually taking in this information." @officialwonder_1 commented, "This teaching is not just for the child alone but for some grown-ups too."

You can follow Gee Gee Davidson (@queenn_gee) on TikTok for more parenting content.