In countless homes across the world — including mine — a silent war is waged daily. It’s not fought with weapons, but with words, silence, and emotional pressure. It’s not about land or wealth, but about something far more intimate: the right to think, believe, and live freely. This is the story of conservative parenting — a model of upbringing that, when taken to extremes, doesn’t build strong families. It breaks children.

I speak not as a distant observer but as someone living through it. My name is Yasir, and for years I’ve battled not the world outside, but the walls of my own house. In a household ruled by rigid beliefs and authoritarian expectations, I’ve been chastised, shamed, and physically confronted for daring to have opinions — particularly those that don’t align with my parents’.
I come from a family where my father’s affiliations with conservative ideas have shaped our home’s ideological climate. My own views — informed by education, experience, and compassion — lean toward liberal, democratic, and sometimes even Marxist values. I believe in equality, in justice, in human dignity. For that, I’ve been called a rebel, a disgrace, even a traitor.
When I asked questions, I was ignored. When I disagreed, I was punished. And when I stood my ground, I became the problem and sore in their eyes, an odium Not for criminality, not for disrespect, but for daring to exist as an independent thinker.
This is not discipline. This is not “tough love.” This is emotional violence — and it is happening in far too many households under the guise of tradition, honor, or religion.
Conservative parenting, in its harshest forms, confuses control with care. It replaces guidance with dominance. It demands respect but rarely gives it in return. It assumes that children must inherit not only family names, but their ideologies, beliefs, and silences.
The emotional cost of this upbringing is enormous. Children raised in such environments often suffer from anxiety, depression, suppressed identity, and chronic self-doubt. They learn early on that love must be earned through obedience, and that questioning is not a sign of intelligence, but of betrayal.
What’s worse is the hypocrisy embedded in these systems. Our parents for example, once supported some ideology or some school of thought . They demanded the right to believe — yet now denies that very right to their own children . This contradiction is not unique to my story and others like me . It is widespread, and it reveals the deeper issue: parenting that is more about ego than empathy.
Let us be clear — parenting is not ownership. Children are not ideological hostages or vessels for their parents’ unfulfilled dreams. A child’s mind is not a blank canvas for inherited dogma; it is a world waiting to be discovered, shaped, and respected.
I write this not just for myself, but for every young person trapped in a household where silence is survival. I write for those who are afraid to speak, to think, or to be — because love in their home is conditional. I write to say: you are not wrong for wanting freedom. You are not ungrateful for asking for space. You are not alone.
And to the parents who might read this — I ask you: do you want obedient shadows, or thinking, loving human beings? Do you want to raise parrots, or people? True love gives room to grow. True parenting listens, questions, adapts.
As for me, I will continue to speak. I will continue to resist. Because silence may keep the peace — but it kills the soul. And I have chosen to live.
I conclude it here with these lines
Bachapan to gaya, javanee bhee gayi
Ek pal to ab hamein jeene do, jeene do
Saaree umr hum mar-mar ke jee liye
Ek pal to ab hamein jeene do, jeene do

Email:------------------yasiryousuf77@gmail.com