Should you make your child apologize? #74 cover art

Should you make your child apologize? #74

Should you make your child apologize? #74

Listen for free

View show details

About this listen

In this episode, Jon slows down one of the most familiar parenting moments—“You need to say you’re sorry”—and asks what we’re actually teaching when we force an apology. Rather than treating “sorry” as proof of character or accountability, he explores what’s happening in a child’s brain when adults are tense, watching, and waiting for the right words. The episode reframes apologies not as a demand, but as one small part of repair, shifting the focus from appeasing adults to caring for the person who was hurt. Parents will leave with a clearer, calmer way to handle these moments—one that builds empathy, responsibility, and real reconciliation instead of compliance.


Send us a text

Support the show

Links to help you and me:

  • To support the Podcast, Subscribe on Substack
  • Get Jon’s Top Five Emotional Regulation Games
  • Get Jon’s Book Punishment-Free Parenting
  • Preorder Jon’s Children’s Book Set My Feelings Free
  • Follow Whole Parent on
    • Instagram,
    • Tiktok,
    • Facebook,
    • Youtube
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.