– Seeing a mother screaming “Sit back and shut up!” to her 18-month-old daughter, even in public, is a disturbing but not so uncommon situation. Many parents still need to understand that screaming at a crying baby or toddler is highly counter-productive and may cause serious long-term damages to the child’s brain development. Moms and dads should know that children cry only when they are in distress, they do not do it on supposed whims.

– A screaming young child is probably hungry, tired, hot, wet or bored. Yes, it is also possible that the child just wants to be picked up in order to be connected closely to the parent or caregiver. In any case, the most probable consequence of screaming at a crying infant would be for the crying to intensify. This kind of inappropriate reaction may cause prolonged toxic stress in a growing brain, with the risk of serious impairment of physical, cognitive, emotional and social development.

Image: Crying Newborn – Wikipedia

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