Reply to PSA. Your child's sarcasm isn't cute.

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "PSA. Your child's sarcasm isn't cute."

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]First of all, there is a broad spectrum of sarcasm (caustic/mean to light hearted and funny). So, it's hard to tell what you even mean in this post.

But I firmly believe that you do your kid a major disservice in life not to[b] teach them how to be sarcastic [/b]at some level. It's a very useful tool in life and people who do not use or understand it are socially awkward.[/quote]

No one ever gets into trouble or behaves in a socially awkward manner through NOT being sarcastic.

On the other hand, sarcasm offers much more potential for getting into awkward situations and turning people off you.

Not being sarcastic is a risk free proposition.[/quote]

Totally disagree. I honestly think you don't fully understand what it is. Sarcasm brings much needed levity to many situations and can be a very effective form of communication. It's sometimes a minefield to offer direct feedback in relationships (especially at work), even when it's necessary. Sarcasm offers a way to do it in a humorous, lower stakes way. It has been effective for me many, many times. Some of my best friendships/co-working relationships started with a sarcastic remark.

And as an example, there is a woman in our friend group who does just not detect sarcasm. So she ends up taking everything literally and responds to sarcasm with patronizing, awkward corrections when the other person was just being sarcastic/ironic. It's so brutal to watch and frustrating to be on the other end. And also, there is no way to form relationships with other people without some risk. That's silly.[/quote]

I do.

It can do all these things but it can also blow back at you if done poorly. It requires a finely tuned assessment of the situation as well as social hierarchy of the moment.  There are many ways to do it wrong.  From the risk perspective, not doing it is safer.   There is no downside to not ever being sarcastic.

The woman in your example does not speak to the situation at hand. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics