Nic Bescoby, a mother of three, appeared on Good Morning Britain to promote her “gentle” approach to parenting that lets her children take control.
Nic Bescoby has three children and has discarded traditional parenting to pursue “gentle parenting,” as she stated on the show.
To her, it’s is an approach to parenting that is based on mutual respect. She lets the children decide what they want to do, within certain boundaries.
As Nic Bescoby revealed on the show, her children get to decide: when to go to bed, what and when to eat, and what to study each day. They are home-schooled instead of attending regular school. Bescoby explained:
“We realised we value freedom and the children do too. The more control we give them over their lives the happier they are.”
When people accuse her of being a lazy parent, she responds that being a gentle parent is far more work than being a traditional disciplinarian parent. Instead of just getting angry and punishing the child, a gentle parent has to take a step back, control her own emotions, and think of a totally different approach to addressing the child’s behavior.
Kate Garraway, one of the hosts of Good Morning Britain, asked her about setting boundaries and admitted that to her this style of parenting sounds like a “recipe for chaos.” Bescoby replied:
“It’s not about saying yes you can have all the things you want. Rather than getting into a battle of wills with them it’s letting them come to the conclusion themselves.”
More about gentle parenting
In traditional parenting, parents use rewards and punishments to guide their children’s behavior. In gentle parenting, parents don’t use either rewards or punishments. They give the children choices instead of commands and rules.
