Gentle Parenting

This week's article summary is What is Gentle Parenting.

Parenting at home and Classroom Management at school go hand in hand. 

As most of you know, there are four main types of parenting/classroom management that revolve around the intersection of warmth and discipline:

1. Neglectful: low warmth, low discipline

2. Permissive: high warmth, low discipline

3. Authoritarian: low warmth, high discipline

4. Authoritative: high warmth, high discipline

Parenting and classroom management experts recommend the fourth type, Authoritative, as the most effective.

Being authoritative basically comes down to being ‘firm but fair’: firm in establishing and enforcing consistent boundaries, expectations, and routines and fair in being compassionate, flexible, and committed to learning, improvement, and growth.

As I mentioned in a previous summary, the Social Emotional Learning Tile on the My Trinity page of our website has a lot of information and guidance regarding how to develop and sustain a ‘firm but fair’ classroom culture to maximize student learning.

Joe

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 Gentle parenting is an evidence-based approach to raising happy, confident children. This parenting style is composed of four main elements: empathy, respect, understanding, and boundaries.

Gentle parenting focuses on fostering the qualities you want in your child by being compassionate and enforcing consistent boundaries. 

Unlike some more lenient parenting methods, gentle parenting also encourages discipline, but in an age-appropriate way. Discipline methods focus on teaching valuable life lessons rather than focusing on punishments

Those who practice gentle parenting encourage working together as a family to teach their children to express their feelings, but in a socially acceptable, age-appropriate manner. Gentle parenting is viewed as a beneficial method for raising happy, independent, and confident children.

Gentle parenting focuses on a child's cognitive state to establish certain guidelines and boundaries that are age-appropriate and beneficial to their development. Because this approach to parenting is meant to foster positive traits in children, gentle parents model their own behavior around their children based on what they expect to see from them.

While gentle parents discipline their children, the goal is to teach the child rather than punish them for their behavior. "When we show gentleness, especially during stressful times, we model frustration tolerance, and we model flexibility. Staying calm and being gentle and firm sets the tone for positive growth and development," says Allison Andrews, owner and primary clinician at Child Development Partners in Boston, MA.

Unlike overly rigid or lax parenting styles, gentle parenting seems to have very few drawbacks and rarely has a negative impact on children's mental health. Instead, the compassionate, understanding elements of gentle parenting foster positive traits that help kids develop socially while also establishing appropriate guidelines to encourage positive behavior.

Meanwhile, those who practice more rigid parenting styles, such as tiger parenting, may view gentle parenting as too lenient. However, it's important to note gentle parenting is different  permissive parenting, which is classified as having low expectations of a child. Permissive parents often opt out of disciplining a child altogether due to their age, while gentle parents discipline using age-appropriate tactics.

Children of tiger parents have been shown to suffer negative consequences due to the high expectations they're expected to meet. These include anxiety, depression, and poor academic performance.

On the other end of the spectrum, permissive parents have an overall more positive bond with their children. Still, they often struggle with situations that require rule-following and structure. Gentle parenting strikes a balance between these styles, offering guidance and support while also clearly defining boundaries.

It's quite simple to apply the ethos of gentle parenting to your daily life, and it all starts with respecting your child's feelings and development.

Babies and toddlers can be trying, with their inability to regulate their emotions and behavior, making it seemingly impossible to create any structure. By recognizing why they are behaving a certain way, you can tailor your response to your child accordingly, keeping in mind their cognitive ability to understand your reaction.

For example, comforting your crying baby rather than getting upset with them may seem obvious, but in terms of gentle parenting, it also means you're teaching your child empathy from an early age.

Most often, this means adjusting their expectations of how they think children should behave to reflect a more realistic standard. For example, while it may be frustrating that a toddler doesn't sleep through the night, gentle parents understand that they are not acting naughty. By comforting instead of punishing the child, the parent models empathy, which is a positive trait they want to enforce.

That said, rules and boundaries are important aspects of gentle parenting. By establishing clear guidelines about what is and is not appropriate, children have the consistent structure they require. This means a child will feel assured enough to explore new environments while also knowing they're being protected. In the end, this encourages confidence.

With older children, keep their age in mind before reacting to their behavior. Doing so will help you better understand their mindset to help them through their feelings in an appropriate way.

As is the case with any parenting style, gentle parenting methods do pose potential challenges. Unlike permissive parenting, gentle parenting is not based on a lack of discipline for children, which is sometimes misinterpreted. Instead, gentle parenting means understanding a child's feelings at the moment and responding accordingly in a way that is beneficial to the child's emotional well-being.

It can be challenging for parents who are new to this method to implement it effectively because gentle parenting requires patience and empathy. Ask yourself whether you're truly able to step back and practice self-control instead of responding reactively to your child's behavior. As with any parenting method, consistency is key in gentle parenting's success.

Each family benefits from different methods of parenting. Still, gentle parenting has been recognized as one of the ideal styles for fostering a positive relationship with your children while still enforcing boundaries.

To get in the mindset to begin gentle parenting, bear in mind that the goals of this method may not come to fruition immediately. The idea of molding your child into someone with positive traits is a continual process, and you may not see the results of gentle parenting overnight. However, remember the goal is to set your child up with the tools to succeed through gentle guidance and compassion.

At the end of the day, children will behave age-appropriately. The reward of gentle parenting comes later on when you see your children applying the attributes you've modeled for them throughout their upbringing on their own as they grow older.