We celebrate their laughter, drown them in gifts, fulfill every request—and then act surprised when they show no respect, no patience, no sense of boundaries. This is not an article against affection… but against affection without framework. Love that turns from warmth… into weakness of character. From care… into absence of guidance.
Today’s children receive everything with ease: toys, gadgets, meals, freedom, even ready-made excuses for their mistakes. But when they fall… they do not know how to rise. Because they were taught comfort, not responsibility.
We feed them affection from birth… but we do not feed them values.
Ask teachers today: What’s your greatest challenge with students? They answer: They never learned to say “thank you,” they lack discipline, they cannot bear the word “no.” The problem is not the child—it is the exhausted parent who mistook “upbringing” for keeping the child happy at all times, forgetting that upbringing = preparation for life, not for perpetual comfort.
Many countries now teach the concept of “psychological immunity”: that a child needs to hear “no,” to face disappointment, to make mistakes and be held accountable—because life will do it anyway, later… and far more harshly.
We shower them with everything, then blame them when they demand more. We drown them in approval… then wonder why they fail to appreciate it.
Upbringing is not just “emotional nursing,” but intellectual weaning, moral firmness, and moments that shape awareness. If you truly want to love your child… teach them that love does not always mean saying “yes.”
We feed them affection… but if we fail to feed them responsibility, they will grow up… and drain the nation from within.
I once met a parent who complained: “My son doesn’t respect me, doesn’t listen, refuses everything I ask of him!” When I asked: “Have you ever told him no?” he responded in shock: “No, impossible… I can’t upset him!”
And there lies the tragedy: a generation that believes love means compliance, that fatherhood = providing, and motherhood = an eternal embrace.
Yet, according to a 2021 study in the Journal of Social Psychology, children raised in overly indulgent and protective environments show weaker coping skills, higher rates of anxiety, and display narcissistic or rebellious behaviors when confronted with life’s first real setbacks.
We are not raising them for the past… but for the future. And the future will not spare those who never learned to endure a little pain, to be disciplined consistently, and to understand slowly.
We must redefine love within the family: to teach children that parenting is not measured by the number of gifts, but by the depth of values and the firmness of moral structure.
For not everything that pleases a child… raises them. And not everything that makes them cry… harms them. Sometimes… you build a stronger child when you say: “No—because I love you.”
