Watch: Is Modern ‘Gentle Parenting’ Appropriate? The She Word Podcast Breaks It Down

During the introduction, Maltese TV presenter Stephanie Spiteri along influencers Melissa Gatt and Michella Scicluna spoke about the new aspect of ‘Gentle Parenting’ which is the modern way of raising your kids which involves being very positive in all situations with your kid, even if they are in the wrong.

“Don’t get me wrong I do not like to raise my voice but sometimes you are just human and it happens,” Melissa said.

In some situations, perceived negative terms such as ‘No’ need to be used.

“They say ‘don’t say no’ to your child because no is a negative term, but if you’re walking down the street and your child decides to run into the street, first instinct is to shout ‘STOP NO’… you are not going to wait until something fatal happens” said Michella.

Trudy also explained that this style of parenting might exclude important values that shape everyone’s adulthood decisions.

“I didn’t even know about this gentle parenting, but there’s so many ways of parenting these days compared to 20 or 30 or, in my case, 40 years ago, when I was growing up,” she said.

“What if it’s something that you’re not subscribed to? How do you instil those values? Because these values are what we carry into adulthood. And they are the the toolbox that we will need for the rest of our live? How do you do that? Without saying no”.

Stephanie further illustrated her experience when raising her son a long time ago and how she used a point system to instil disciplinary values into her son while strengthening her relationship with him.

“I used to work with the star system, I don’t even know whether it’s appropriate anymore, whether it’s acceptable or whether it’s a good idea. When you do something, right. I give you a star and we work towards buying something.”

Have you ever used “gentle parenting” while raising your own children?