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Jocko Willink says he used ‘shunning’ as punishment and regrets it

Jocko Podcast · You Gave Your Kids a Smart Phone? Know This. · August 18, 2026
Jocko Willink says he used ‘shunning’ as punishment and regrets it
Jocko Podcast
Jocko Podcast
You Gave Your Kids a Smart Phone? Know This.
"And as I, you know, as my kids got older and I started to kind of put connections together more, it was like, "Oh, like you've you've heard my kids talking about me shunning them." Which is just awful. They freaking hated it. I like wouldn't talk to them, wouldn't look at them."
Jocko Willink says that when his children were younger he sometimes punished them by “shunning” them — refusing to talk to or look at them — and describes the tactic as “awful”. He frames his earlier reliance on heavy punishments as a failure of leadership on his part, arguing that parents should focus on building a child’s identity and decision-making rather than motivating behaviour through fear of consequences.
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Jocko Podcast
Jocko Podcast

You Gave Your Kids a Smart Phone? Know This.

August 21, 2026 · 10m · 1 Egleze moments
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