11/18/2025
Are parents failing their children!
Half the “gentle parenting” I see online isn’t gentle at all, it’s permissive.
And nobody wants to say it out loud because it’s easier to blame a “parenting style”
than admit the real issue is the lack of boundaries at home.
It’s parents who are terrified to upset their child.
Parents who negotiate every rule.
Parents who call every consequence “trauma”
and every meltdown “expression.”
Meanwhile the kid is running the entire household like a tiny CEO
with zero emotional regulation and unlimited free passes.
That’s not gentle.
That’s avoiding parenting.
And then those same kids walk into the real world
and suddenly it’s everyone else’s fault when things don’t go their way.
Teachers can’t “emotionally process” with them for 45 minutes.
Coaches aren’t going to pause practice because your child is “overstimulated.”
Bosses won’t tiptoe around their feelings after a missed deadline.
And life?
Life doesn’t care how validated they feel.
Gentle parenting, real gentle parenting, still has rules.
It still has consequences.
It still teaches accountability, respect, and self-control.
It doesn’t confuse kindness with weakness
or empathy with letting your kid do whatever they want.
Permissive parenting raises kids who crumble the second they hear “no.”
Kids who think boundaries are optional.
Kids who expect the world to bend because home always did.
And that’s why teachers are quitting.
Coaches are quitting.
Babysitters are quitting.
Everyone else is dealing with the meltdown your child never learned to manage.
So yes, be gentle.
Be loving.
Be patient.
But don’t be afraid to be the parent who says “enough.”
Don’t avoid discipline just because it’s uncomfortable.
Don’t raise a child who’s shocked the day the world finally tells them no.
Because gentle parenting can absolutely work.
Permissive parenting?
It never will.
And deep down, most people know exactly which one they’re doing.
