Teacher reveals the one thing she wishes all parents taught their kids before kindergarten: ‘It's really hard to help them learn'
Emily Perkins, 28, a kindergarten teacher from Kentucky, is schooling parents on the art of saying 'uh-uh' before their little rascal's first day of school.
'Tell your child 'No,'' said the kiddo pro in a buzzy bulletin with over 326,000 TikTok views.
5 Perkins virally scolded 'gentle' moms and dads who refuse to tell their kids 'No' for fear of triggering negative emotions.
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'Tell them 'No' as a complete sentence,' she urged, insisting that a homespun lesson in denial is the best way to prepare a tot for the classroom. 'Do not teach them that telling them 'No' invites them to argue with you.'
Perkins assures that issuing a veto isn't about being repressive. Instead, it's about teaching tikes respect.
'If I can't tell your child 'No' as an adult, and they don't respect the 'No,'' she said, 'they're basically unteachable.'
It's a piercing word-to-the-wise aimed directly at mothers and fathers of the 'gentle parenting' persuasion. The folks who'd rather let their kids run amok than reprimand them with tough love.
5 Gentle parenting emphasizes a child's thoughts, needs and feelings over rules, restrictions and punishments.
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5 Perkins says kids who aren't taught to respect an adult's instructions are virtually 'unteachable' at school.
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5 Gentle parents often avoid yelling, giving time outs and spankings.
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Gentle parenting is bringing-up-baby style that prioritizes empathy, understanding, independence and boundaries. It's an ultramodern form of child-rearing that comes in stark contrast to the more traditional punishment-and-reward, 'spare the rod, spoil the child' ideologies of yore.
The little hellions of gentle parents are often permitted to do as they please — scream, holler, hit, terrorize and vandalize — sans repercussion.
Kelly Medina Enos, 34, doesn't even instruct her five-year-old son, George, to say 'sorry,' when he misbehaves. To the millennial mom of two, from the UK, making him apologize — even after he 'smacks' her — is 'disingenuous.'
5 Perkins says parents who are opposed to using the word 'No' should homeschool their little terrors.
Krakenimages.com – stock.adobe.com
To Perkins, the gentle parenting trend is nothing but a nightmare.
'Congratulations, you're a pushover,' the teacher and mother of two scoffed in her viral rebuke. 'You can validate your child's feelings without being a pushover.'
'I had a parent tell me that they don't tell their child 'No' because it triggers them,' she said with a deep sigh.
'If you want to have a kid who you can't tell 'No,' and you don't want to use the word 'No' in your vocabulary [and] you want to be able to tell them 'No' and then they argue with you immediately — teach your own kids,' Perkins ranted.
'Teach your own kids,' she reiterated.
'If your child's teacher can't tell them 'No,'' said Perkins, 'it's really hard to help them learn.'
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