You can tell a lot about the relationship between a kid and their parent by how the parent speaks to them. There’s a difference between being strict and being needlessly cruel, and many parents like to tow that line through how they communicate with their children. If you’ve ever gone to a friend’s house with a mom who doesn’t even care to pretend to be nice in front of company, you know what I’m talking about. They yell at their kids constantly over small, unimportant things. They want everybody to know that they’re the boss of the house, and if their kid does anything to cross them, it’s a wrap. This environment rarely leads to emotional closeness between the parent and child, even when the kid has grown up. The following text screenshots are from parents like this, and I feel so sorry for the kid on the other end of the line.