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Parents Stopped Teaching Kids to Stop Screaming — Now No One Can Tell When It’s a Real Emergency
When screaming becomes the norm, people stop paying attention. The cost of this mistake is higher than you think
At almost every location, there are screaming children. Parks, grocery stores, restaurants, concerts… it is a sound that cuts through every environment, an unavoidable jarring noise that demands the attention of everyone around it.
But here is my question. Why don’t parents stop their children from screaming anymore?
I do not remember a time when in my childhood, screaming was strictly reserved for “emergencies.” Screaming was a distress signal, a call for help, for when danger was imminent.
When I screamed, or let out a noise that merited screaming, my parents usually gave me a mild reprimand that it was “not cool.”
It feels like that lesson, about screaming, is gone. More and more I see parents completely oblivious to their child’s screams, as if it was just part of childhood.