The trouble with ‘gentle parenting’

What type of parent are you? Buried beneath a litany of books detailing how to raise children ‘the right way,’ you’ll find an endless array of parenting identities: there’s the ‘helicopter parent,’ ‘gentle parent,’ ‘crunchy mumma’, and ‘tiger mum’. These labels are used to encapsulate what kind of mum, or dad, you are. It’s easy to dismiss them as a bit of trendy, light-hearted fun. But their impact runs deeper. By pigeon-holing parents, we risk forgetting what it means to actually raise a child.

At its core, parenting is about attachment; the bond between parent and child. Like any meaningful relationship, it is a dynamic that must be nurtured, not a formula to be followed. You can read all the parenting books in the world, but it doesn’t mean you will be a good parent. You can read no parenting books, and still be a good mum, or dad.