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Decoded | Unlock The Secrets of Human Behavior, Emotion and Motivation

Decoded | Unlock The Secrets of Human Behavior, Emotion and Motivation

Do You Actually Like Your Kids? The Parenting Question No One Wants to Answer

Sep 24, 2026 · 1h 36m

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About this episode

Do you love your kids—but sometimes realize you don't actually like the behavior they've become? That's the uncomfortable question Elisabeth McKay is asking in this episode of Decoded. Because parenting isn't a lottery, and a child's behavior doesn't develop inside a vacuum. Your household is constantly providing inputs—and those inputs are helping shape the behavioral outputs you eventually have to live with. This episode challenges both ends of the parenting pendulum: harsh, authoritarian discipline on one side and hyper-attentive, permissive parenting on the other. Elisabeth argues that love, empathy, and good intentions don't automatically produce resilient, capable children. Sometimes…