New Research Links Parenting Choices to Future Bad Outcomes in Children.....

Atlanta, GA - Experts are warning parents to be extra cautious as new research confirms that even minor parenting choices can have serious negative future consequences for their children.

Parenting expert Pete Peters, shown here in 1957 developing his groundbreaking approach to child development

"This research is robust and consistent with my previous research, except now it is even more clear that the kind of parenting decisions that might ruin a child's life don't have to seem like a big deal at the time," Pete Peters, a behavioral psychologist, parenting expert, and founder of the Tomorrow's Kids Now Institute in Atlanta, explained. "Seemingly inconsequential decisions can, and almost certainly will, irrevocably change the direction of your child's life. One wrong choice and Timmy goes from future architect to future meth addict."

Previous research had shown that parents and other caregivers play an important role in shaping the lives of the young children in their care. But according to Peters, the author of How Parents are Usually to Blame (1963) and Parents: It's Still Almost Always Their Fault (1970), it is challenging to design a study that fully uncover how shockingly minor these unknowingly important choices can be in the real world. "It really could be literally anything you say to your child or do around them. Even reading this article could set them on the path to a life of criminality and sexual deviancy."

Despite the extremely heavy burden that caregivers of young children carry, Peters does offer up some hope for the future. In his latest book, Your Parents Made You This Way (2022), he reveals that parents can benefit from understanding that their failures and inadequacies won't impact later generations of children. "These ruined children will grow up and ruin the lives of their own children, and that won't be your fault. Unless...wait a second...now that I think about it. It is!"