Most importantly, parents have a responsibility to model healthy relationships. That means paying careful attention to their own mimetic impulses. Even in ways that seem innocent or insignificant. Reacting mimetically to every piece of political news at the dinner table, or to every minor injustice that a child suffers in school or sports, or using kids as pawns in a rivalry with other parents (such as buying your kid a nicer car than their friend’s parents could afford to buy her, to signal your status)—all these things create an atmosphere in which mimetic behavior is learned and becomes the
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