{"id":344763,"date":"2025-12-15T05:07:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/uncategorized\/mom-says-gentle-parenting-doesnt-always-work\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:07:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:07:47","slug":"mom-says-gentle-parenting-doesnt-always-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nynetwork.com\/?p=344763","title":{"rendered":"Mom Says Gentle Parenting Doesn’t Always Work"},"content":{"rendered":"


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No matter which parenting style<\/a> you use the most when raising your kids, you probably feel like you\u2019re getting it wrong in some way. If you subscribe to gentle parenting<\/a>, you might worry you aren\u2019t being strict enough. If you are an authoritative parent, there might be the gnawing concern that you are being too hard<\/em> on your kids. Can any of us really get it right? According to most parents, me included, not really. At least, when it comes to my own insecurities as someone who practices gentle parenting.<\/p>\n

So when one mom shared on Instagram that she totally switched up from gentle parenting after feeling its long-term negative effects on her kids, I felt even more unsure about my parenting style than ever before. According to the mom, Jaclyn, gentle parenting can lead to the anxiety you\u2019re probably trying to avoid in kids, while also making your kids insecure, which is literally the opposite of what gentle parents want for their children. <\/p>\n

And hey, maybe your kids won\u2019t turn out exactly like Jaclyn\u2019s. But her candidness in what she got wrong and what she wants to do to change that might make you think twice about gentle parenting as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She is basically a cautionary tale for gentle parenting too much.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Jaclyn wrote in the caption of her Instagram Reel that she spent 10 years gentle parenting two kids, and she realized she needed to correct her own behavior. She noted that one of her kids became a people-pleaser in the 10 years she practiced gentle parenting, while the other acted entitled, and as though \u201ceverything is up for debate.\u201d Instead of raising the self-aware and sensitive (but not to a fault) kids she might have hoped to, Jaclyn was met with \u201cemotionally dysregulated\u201d or \u201cwithdrawn\u201d kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had tried SO hard to do everything right,\u201d she wrote. \u201cTo do things different from what I had growing up. Here\u2019s what I realized. I wasn\u2019t actually doing gentle parenting\u2026I had slipped into permissive parenting without realizing it.\u201d Oops. Is she me and am I her? Honestly, I\u2019m probably not the first parent to consider that.<\/p>\n

I practice gentle parenting because I grew up with negligent parents. <\/h2>\n

In order to right the wrongs of the generation before me, my idea of positive parenting is validating feelings, having open communication, and explaining why boundaries exist and what they are, among other things. Apparently, per Jaclyn, I got it all wrong. Go figure, right? Maybe I can learn a thing or two from her own misguided adventures in parenting and not knowing the right move.<\/p>\n

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She switched to authoritative parenting.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jaclyn wrote in her caption that, in order to rectify her course, she switched to authoritative parenting to give her kids high warmth, but also high structure. That means she gives her kids clear boundaries, but also consequences. Instead of worrying that punishments or consequences might negatively affect her children in the future, she leans i to helping her kids learn by way of proper consequences.<\/p>\n

Under another video<\/a> that Jaclyn made about what she sees as gentle parenting, other parents asked for her help in setting them on their own paths to stronger parenting to benefit their kids long-term. One parent commented that Jaclyn is talking about permissive rather than gentle parenting. But, Jaclyn commented back, that\u2019s part of her point.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany families want to do gentle parenting but aren\u2019t sure how to do it (it likely wasn\u2019t modeled for them growing up and they want to do things so much different from their own childhoods),\u201d Jaclyn wrote. \u201cThat they end up with permissive boundaries because they feel guilty shame, or just aren\u2019t sure how to navigate boundaries, validation, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n


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