New-age Parenting styles & options

New thinking is that Generation Alpha needs parenting that amalgamates traditional and new parenting styles. Consequently, child psychologists and experts are propounding new-age parenting styles to nurture precocious children in the new VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world -Kiran Balimane & Cynthia John Not many parents are aware that like there are haute couture fashions and styles, there are parenting styles and choices. While right until the second half of the 20th century, parents learned and adapted parenting styles from their own experience and (decreasingly) from their own parents and agony aunts of the media, US-based clinical and developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind (1927-2018) created a stir in the parenting advice industry when in 1995 she famously categorised three parenting styles — authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. More famously in the new millennium, Amy Chua, an ethnic Chinese professor at Yale Law School, stirred a hornet’s nest with her bestselling Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011), in which she glorified authoritarian Asian parenting style vis-a-vis American-style soft parenting. Since then, there’s heightened interest and discussion in society about how best to nurture children to develop their self-confidence and capability to cope with life’s challenges in the new age of the internet and heightened competition complicated by the pulls and pressures of instant communication and ready information provided by social media. The new thinking is that Generation Alpha needs parenting that amalgamates traditional and new parenting styles. Consequently, child psychologists and experts are propounding new-age parenting styles to nurture precocious children in the new VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. In the pages following, parenting experts and child psychologists provide valuable advice on ways and means to raise confident, well-balanced children in the new era defined by the pulls, pressures and temptations of instant digital communication and pervasive social media. Lighthouse parenting Ideated and propounded by US-based paediatrician Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg in his best-seller Raising Kids to Thrive (2015), a lighthouse parent serves as a lighthouse, observing and guiding their progeny sailing turbulent seas. Parents are the guiding light, providing direction but permitting children to navigate challenges on their own. According to Ginsburg, lighthouse parents are watchful and present to offer support, but like a ‘lighthouse’ are distant observers and trust children to learn-by-doing. Pune-based child psychologist Aarti Takawane says lighthouse parenting is “about how to balance love with expectations and protection with trust. This balance may be different for each family depending on levels of trust already established and boundaries parents want to set. But lighthouse parenting nurtures confident and resilient children.” Takawane advances eight reasons why millennial parents should adopt lighthouse parenting. Promotes healthy boundaries. This style encourages children to develop independence with responsibility, as they learn to navigate the world within a defined rules framework. By setting healthy boundaries, lighthouse parents promote security and predictability, which is important for children who may feel overwhelmed or anxious about challenges. Creates a supportive parent-child relationship. Lighthouse parenting values open communication and self-reflection. It encourages children to reach out to their parents…