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This Psychologist Says Don't High-Five Kids And... Excuse Me, What?!

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You shouldn’t high-five children because they’re not our equals and they’ll probably start disobeying you if you do, according to a family psychologist.

Author and parenting expert John Rosemond said the high-five is a gesture of familiarity, to be exchanged only between equals.

In an eye-opening column for the Omaha World-Herald, Rosemond explained how he refused to high-five his grandson when he was five years old, much to his adult son’s confusion – adding that respect for adults is important for a child’s character development and the high-five is “not compatible with respect”.

“The child who is allowed to high-five an adult has tacit permission to talk to said adult as if they are peers. Do not wonder why, if you high-five your child, he often talks to you as if you are his equal,” he wrote.

His column concluded: “The more adults and children co-mingle as if they are equals, the more problematic become their relationships. Why should a child obey an adult who high-fives him? And make no mistake, the happiest kids are also the most obedient. The research says so, as does one’s commonsense.”

The thing is, lots of parents – and human beings in general – strongly and respectfully disagree. Myself included.


Pro-tip: high-five as many kids as you want because it's not gonna hurt anybody in the long run. https://t.co/AeGgYffoQb

— Meghin Moore (witch, plz?️✨) (@meghin_) October 3, 2022

It's okay to high-five your kids
It's okay to let your kids sleep on you, next to you, in your bed
It's okay if in 2022 adults are perfectly fine with children calling them by their first name.

Those things are okay.

— ? ????????? ? (@MichHoivata) October 4, 2022

What pic.twitter.com/J1uRL1O2HF

— erin, Ph.D (@emfundertaker) October 3, 2022

This is honestly one of the weirdest things I have ever read in the OWH.
It is also hilarious.
And very depressing.

— erin, Ph.D (@emfundertaker) October 3, 2022

When it’s 10 minutes to deadline and you got nothin’. pic.twitter.com/EDdlfn8AKj

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) October 3, 2022

Also, it's weird, because honestly when I think of high-fives I pretty much only think of children. I don't high-five my friends or other adults. People like this have weird ideas about power dynamics.

— Darcy GROUNDED FOR ALL ETERNITY IS OUT NOW Marks (@Wheresthetime) October 3, 2022

As the mother of a 14-month-old, I’ve found the high-five a great way to praise our daughter when she’s done something well – for example, when she took her first steps, ate something she’d previously palmed off, or managed to figure out how to put the correct shapes in the holes of her shape sorter. (I know, what a genius!).

I don’t get the impression the odd high-five here and there is reducing her respect for me either as an adult or as her caregiver. If anything, it’s bolstering our relationship and bringing us closer. The beaming face I’m met with when we high-five is proof of that.


If you’re someone a kid looks up to, a high five is maybe the best thing you could give them? It means you think they’re cool. Not smart, not cute, not pretty, not responsible, not athletic. Cool. Valued just cuz you, a cool person, recognizes them as being also very cool. https://t.co/mVMqzkSzpN

— Andrea ? (@AndreaElleCee) October 4, 2022


Psychotherapist and counsellor Daniel Browne also disagrees with the theory that high-fiving kids is in any way problematic.

“I think actually a high-five can be a really encouraging thing,” he tells HuffPost UK. “If a child does something well or they behave well, then it’s like: ‘Here, have a high five, well done. I’m really happy with what you’ve done or how you’re behaving.’

“And actually that might encourage the child to continue behaving in an appropriate way.”

BRB anyway, just off to high-five my kid for finishing her breakfast.

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