Many parents can't help but raise their children in the same way they were raised themselves. That means repeating the sarcastic, moralistic phrases their parents used to tell them while they were growing up.
In 2025, with the "invention" and addressing of toxic behaviors, Albanian parents no longer dare to use the same expressions with their children for the simple fact that their children will point out their mistake, often in not very polite ways.
Here are 8 of these expressions:
1. “Do as I say, not as I do”
Parents of Generation Z children in particular know that their child hates being ordered around and blindly obeying this expression that, ultimately, is unreasonable and dictatorial.
2. “I brought you into this world, I will take you out”
There's always a point where a parent gets fed up with their children. But that doesn't excuse how awful the above statement is to say.
3. “I’ll give you a good reason to cry”
Are you crying because you fell and hurt your leg? A few years ago, your parent would have made sure to give you a more "worthy" reason for your crying by giving you a few slaps. We all agree that it's better that this method doesn't exist so commonly today, right?
4. "You can have privacy in your own home"
Coming from a highly repressive communist regime, it was unthinkable for Albanian parents that their children would go through such a period of life called adolescence. Deprived of it themselves in their time, they were convinced that there was no such thing as being isolated in your room without interacting with the rest of the family, not for as long as mom and dad paid for everything.
5. "Are you bored? I'll find you something to do"
As positive as this expression is in itself with its intention of not letting children fall into laziness, it is the judgmental approach and feeling as if parents are their enemies that bothers today's children.
6. "So-and-so's children have no bread to eat"
And you have 100 naze. Again, it's not the intention to make your child feel grateful or bad, but the "attacking" approach that parents take when reminding their children of this.
7. "Are you depressed? Why, what are you missing?"
True, your child may not be experiencing depression, but the fact that they have managed to express such a thing to you is a sign of their desperation to create an emotional connection with you, try to look at it from this perspective.
8. "Remember being mean? When I was your age..."
Okay, how can you expect your 15-year-old to empathize with a period he hasn't experienced? The opposite should be more likely to happen, right?
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