Retired teacher shares powerful advice on avoiding the top parenting mistake she saw in her career

Parenting can be conflicting—wholesome on some days while dreadful on others. Some parents turn to self-help books, while others think they have it all figured out. However, a former elementary school teacher believes many parents are making the same mistake. She shared her insightful advice on her daughter's TikTok account, @elenanico22.

The video begins with the daughter asking, "Mom you were an elementary school teacher. What's one thing you saw that people messing up with their kids?" The former teacher replied, "They didn't enjoy them." The daughter then asks her mother to elaborate on what she meant by that. "Kids are fun," she explained. "You've got to enjoy them. They wanted them to be something they're not — most of us aren't exactly what other people want us to be — so enjoy the kid you have." She then turned to her daughter and added, "I enjoyed you." 

She went on to share a story from another school she had taught at, where many of the children were from famous families. She recalled one particular father, who was a doctor at the time and is now involved in politics, being very strict about his children's diet. "So, of course, what did the kids want? Everything they couldn't have," the former teacher explained. She concluded with a lighthearted yet insightful remark, saying, "Never send your kids to school with carrots. You are just going to have kids with food issues." 

People in the comments section shared their thoughts, including insights from professionals. For instance, @dr.karlamd said, "As a pediatrician, I agree." @thisonetime echoed, "Toddler teacher. Same. So heartbreaking. I saw it a lot when I worked with highly educated parents with high incomes." @lainers, another childcare expert, added, "This is so true. I work in childcare and lots of parents literally cannot stand their kids. Breaks my heart." 

Meanwhile, some parents on TikTok voiced their concerns and shared their own experiences. Like @aj, who shared, "We do enjoy our kids, but most of us have no village. It's exhausting." @thekailapea defended the parents, "Folks are in survival mode." @edgedmindset explained, "It's hard when you have to work around the clock to keep the kiddos fed and sheltered." 

And understandably so, as parenting is no easy feat. It demands both physical strength and mental resilience. However, one mother on Instagram, Jennifer B. @8thdayformomonly, argued that parents today are placing too much pressure on themselves, which burdens them and prevents them from fully enjoying this beautiful phase of life.

She captioned her video post, "Do you remember your parents doing activities with you as often as you do activities with your kids? I feel like a lot of this is the expectation placed upon us by ourselves, society and everyone else's highlight reels on social media. I don't recall my parents doing the same thing." The mother then argued that parents these days should lower their expectations, "It's just a really really high bar. Why have we placed these expectations on ourselves to entertain our kids?" 

"When you have two working parents and you're also maintaining a house, we have changed the expectations of parenting. We are supposed to enjoy every minute with our kids when that wasn't the expectation of our parents," she reiterated insisting, "We can lower the bar."

You can follow elenanico22 for more parenting and wedding content.