Balihow – Gentle parenting has emerged as a popular approach to raising children in recent years.
Gentle parenting aims to cultivate confident, independent, and happy children through empathy, respect, understanding, and healthy boundaries.
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According to Parents, gentle parenting primarily focuses on age-appropriate development, while traditional parenting often relies on punishment and rewards.
Parenting coach Danielle Sullivan highlights the numerous benefits of adopting this parenting style.
“Gentle parenting teaches children that they can actively participate in the world, set their own boundaries, trust their needs, and voice their opinions,” she explains.
Furthermore, gentle parenting can help reduce the likelihood of children developing bullying behavior. But what are the other advantages of implementing gentle parenting?
Benefits of Gentle Parenting
1. Reducing Anxiety
Research suggests that gentle parenting can lower the risk of anxiety. One study even found that this parenting style can foster regulated responses in social contexts for shy toddlers.
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The study is titled “Parental Gentle Encouragement Promotes Shy Toddlers’ Regulation in Social Contexts.”
2. Improved Parent-Child Relationship
Another study reveals that gentle parenting, similar to slow parenting which also emphasizes bonding, can enhance the relationship between parents and children.
The study emphasizes that the most valuable gifts a child can receive are love, time, and support from their parents.
This research is titled “The Importance of Early Bonding on the Long-term Mental Health and Resilience of Children.”
3. Positive Social Skills
Children, especially babies and toddlers, learn by imitation. Gentle parenting is rooted in empathy and respect.
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Consequently, children learn to mirror these positive qualities, making them more likely to develop into empathetic and respectful individuals.
4. Children Learn Empathy
As previously mentioned, gentle parenting can help children grow into empathetic individuals.
According to Cleveland Clinic, this is because parents focus on how their actions directly affect their child’s feelings.
When children learn how they make you feel, they also observe how you respond to them.
Pediatrician Dr. Karen Estrella explains that gentle parenting helps children understand later in life whether their behavior will yield positive results.
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Moreover, children learn a great deal by imitating their parents.
“If they know their parents respond to something by yelling and screaming when agitated, the child will respond in the same way because they think it’s okay,” Estrella notes.
Ringkasan
Gentle parenting is an increasingly popular approach focused on empathy, respect, understanding, and healthy boundaries to raise confident, independent, and happy children. Unlike traditional parenting that often relies on punishment and rewards, gentle parenting prioritizes age-appropriate development and encourages children to actively participate in the world, set boundaries, trust their needs, and voice their opinions.
The benefits of gentle parenting include reduced anxiety in children, improved parent-child relationships through bonding and support, and the development of positive social skills and empathy. Children learn by imitation and mirroring the empathy and respect shown by their parents, ultimately leading to more empathetic and respectful individuals who understand the impact of their actions on others.