The threat of another parent can do lasting damage. Children should feel comfortable and loved equally by both, and the fear that one parent is going to go off on them can make them forever consider that other parent as something to be worried about.
"Whenever there are threats or the inducement of fear in a parenting dynamic, we have a problem," Dr. Lapointetolds POPSUGAR. "Children are not meant to exist in an environment of fear. They're meant to marinate in the safety of love. It also suggests that you're not in charge enough to manage this. What kind of a parent can't pony up and take control of a situation and has to defer to the threat of another parent's response? The kind of parent who really shouldn't be counted on."
