When I was a boy my stepfather expressed of a lot of anger, but many times he held it in. When talking to him I could never tell if he was angry or not. It was difficult to read his emotions in general. I believe this is what caused me to be an intuitive person. And in general, perhaps the ability of a child to read their parents' emotions has a large impact on whether they learn to gather knowledge intuitively or literally. The more transparent a parent is, the easier it is for a child to read their emotions and see them at face value. The downside of course is that a lack of intuition can result in a lack of foresight. With this insight, the idea of my stepfather making me intelligent has a lot more credence. However, it also means he had the opposite effect on my confidence.
Anger in particular can cause a child to lack confidence in himself. If he is never sure that a parent is angry, it causes him to always second guess himself for fear of them feeling it. He trembles in their presence, struggling to find the words to say. This was as true for me as it was for my brother. He had a terrible stuttering problem through his adolescence, probably caused by his father's unpredictable anger, though I don’t know for sure.
As a parent I must not repeat this disastrous effect. I must learn to express my anger whenever appropriate, though never in excess, so that my child may be confident in his ability to approach people. Even now, I find it difficult to approach people for fear of them being angered or stressed. The cause is deep seeded, so ingrained into my psyche that the obstacle may be too high to overcome. Fortunately, my brother got over his stuttering problem, and he seems to be able to approach people well, though it's not always easy to see how he's really feeling.
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