Gentle parenting

Lately, I’ve noticed a rising narrative online:Gentle parenting is a problem.

It seems to be blamed for disrespect, entitlement, and emotional dysregulation.

But I feel like there might be a need to pause here...

Could there be other variables that could explain some of the struggles that both parents and caregivers are dealing with right now?

In my opinion, parenting does not happen in a vacuum. Parenting occurs within the broader context of society and culture.

So, I have to wonder about our world today, which moves at breakneck speed: all of us are wrung out and strung out, all the while trying to do this while parenting.

And then what about the generation born during COVID?

Many of the children who are now struggling were born into unprecedented stress. During their earliest months — when their nervous systems were absorbing everything — parents and caregivers were anxious, isolated, and navigating uncertainty.

Babies don’t understand pandemics.

But they do absorb stress.

There seem to be simply too many variables to point one finger at a single parenting philosophy.

And when we begin pointing fingers at one parenting approach, we run the risk

of judging parents who are legitimately trying to break cycles of abuse, neurodiverse families navigating very real regulatory challenges, and Children whose behavior may reflect wiring, stress, or sensory overload.

As a neurodiverse parent, I know firsthand that behavior is rarely simple. My children’s struggles were not the result of permissiveness. They were the result of nervous systems that needed support, structure, and understanding.

I just worry that if we aren’t careful, the pendulum might swing too far.

Maybe the conversation isn’t about abandoning the idea completely.

Maybe it’s about widening the lens.

Maybe it’s about asking: What else is happening in the ecosystem of this child?

Because parenting trends come and go. But nervous systems — and the stress placed upon them — remain.

Could we begin to work from a place of non-judgement? and try to remember the motto "he's not giving me a hard time; he's having a hard time"?