6 Classic Principles of Upbringing We’d Be Better Off Forgetting About

How often do you think about whether or not certain ways of raising kids are useful or not? How often do you update them according to the reality of modern-day life? Almost everyone follows the rules that their own parents taught them like, “study well”, “be responsible”, and “you’ll become a boss if you work hard”.

But some child psychologists propose that we start to prepare our kids for the future the day before yesterday, instead of tomorrow.

Bright Side was really surprised by the irrelevance of some older parental advice and want to find out if we really need to get rid of some of these dated principles once and for all.

6. You have to save money.

The main word of advice from our parents and grandparents almost makes no sense today. You can save money during a short period of time, while a long-term bank deposit is a rather doubtful variant. Apparently, you’ll get the opposite result of saving money when you do this. Of course, it’s good to have some money in reserve but it’s even better when your savings work for you.

In the modern world, money should be invested prudently, and not everyone knows how to do it. That’s why the financial planning basics are useful for everybody.

5. If you want to do something, do it as well as possible.

This is one of the most persistent pieces of advice that people follow from generation to generation.

But if we look at a school student’s day, we’ll see that they have to do lots of things. And the only one possible way to get it all done is to decide what should be done really well, what may be reviewed, and what can be cheated.

Well, if you do everything well, how can you do anything just perfectly?

This skill of “effort division” is incredibly useful in adult life when it comes to having to divide time and effort between work, family, hobbies, and other important things.

4. You have to accumulate more knowledge.

“How come you don’t know that?” we exclaim when a child can’t say who Anne Frank is. This kind of knowledge won’t influence a child’s future at all. In fact, this information can easily be found on the Internet.

However, the ability to find information quickly, check its accuracy and manage time are incredibly valuable. That’s what parents should teach their children.

General knowledge is great but it’s hardly applicable in real life.

3. A reliable job is a must.

So many kids’ dreams are ruined because of this rule. Some parents are known to say, “Books and poetry?! It’s foolish. An accountant is a more worthy profession!” But in 10-15 years the necessity and importance of a chosen job can change.

The world is so changeable nowadays. Only those who embrace these changes and are flexible can achieve success.

2. Career advancement is an indicator of success.

Lots of people don’t know that there is not just vertical career growth (worker to manager, to director and so on), but horizontal career growth as well.

There are so many examples of horizontal career growth like in the case of successful Internet account users that become popular because of sewing, drawing, and woodwork skills, for example.

Nowadays, any hobby can become a job and personal development is becoming one of the most important things to a career.

If a kid isn’t very interested in math but draws very well, maybe we should encourage them more instead of hiring math tutors and teachers?

1. Making a kid the center of the universe.

You also should remember that you don’t have to guard your kid too much. If you want them to become an independent and self-sustained person, let them make decisions and care for themselves more on their own.

If you always try to protect your kid, they won’t be able to face reality and overcome difficulties on their own because they won’t know how to do it.

In some cases, such preoccupation and concern have the opposite effect: when kids grow up, they escape from their caring parents as they want to have freedom. But they still don’t know how to plunge into the real world without help, so it becomes a problem in any case.

Let’s change the outdated principles!

Specialists claim that we need to have these certain skills to be successful in modern life:

• A high communication level instead of a “sit down and listen!” mentality
• The ability to cooperate, be a team player, and collaborate with others on different projects
• Creativity and an ability to think outside the box
• The development of critical thinking skills that help them survive in the real world

Are you ready to change your views on child rearing? Or do you think there are timeless teachings that will always be useful? Share your opinion with us.