Neglected.
“Every single time a child excitedly yells “mommy” or “daddy” and is blatantly ignored, a piece of their confidence is taken away. Often, the child will give up trying to get their parent’s attention after getting tired of repeating themselves. What kind of harm is this doing to the child who is looking for someone to tell them their new trick is cool, watch them reach home base and score a run for their team, or smile proudly because they are riding their bike without training wheels for the very first time? Children need attention, they need approval, they need someone there to tell them “great job” and to build up their self-esteem. We, as parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., need to stop tearing down their confidence by choosing to pay more attention to the devices in our hands than the children that we love.”
