Dr. Jameca CooperForensic Psychology Consultant at Emergence Psychological Services

Gentle parenting or just letting everything slide? 👀 #parenting #gentleparenting #genx

23 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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1:05

In this short monologue, Dr. Jameca Cooper clarifies the distinction between gentle parenting and permissive parenting using a bedtime scenario with a 6‑year‑old child. She explains that a permissive parent would simply extend bedtime when the child resists, whereas a gentle parent maintains the established bedtime rule while offering empathy and support, such as helping the child transition to the bedroom. Cooper emphasizes that gentle parenting still enforces firm boundaries, contrasting it with the “no‑rules” perception some people have. She notes that a future video will explore the psychological outcomes of these approaches for children and invites viewers to comment on whether they see permissive practices being mislabeled as gentle parenting.

Chapters

Hey parents, are we out here just letting kids do what the hell they want to do and then call it gentle parenting? Because there is a difference between gentle parenting and permissive parenting. If you're a permissive parent, say you have a 6-year-old and it's bedtime, 9 o'clock, and you say, all right, bedtime, and they say, I don't want to go, and you say, oh, okay, I'll give you one more hour. Versus a gentle parent, 6-year-old, same scenario, 9 o'clock, time to go to bed, and they say, I don't want to go to bed. So as a gentle parent, you will say, oh, it is hard. to stop what you're doing and go to bedtime just to go to sleep, but let me help you by carrying you to your room. So in other words, a gentle parent is still going to maintain the firm boundary and the firm rule, whereas the permissive parent will— I'm going to talk about in another video later about what those outcomes are psychologically for the child when they grow up. I want to hear from you in the comments. Are people just out here letting their children do whatever? And then calling it quote unquote gentle parenting when it's really, you just have no rules.