I told my kids they could come to me with anything but when my teenager admitted to drinking at a party I panicked and grounded him and now he won't talk to me.
More people experience this than they realize.
A parent's fear-based response undermines the trust they worked to build, revealing the difficulty of maintaining non-punitive communication about dangerous behaviors.
“Where Are You with Authoritative vs. authoritarian parenting?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.