Slow Parenting – What Is It?

Though we may not make a conscious decision to be one or other type of parent, we can find out about different parenting styles, and take pointers from them, to make a start on parenting that will be the best going forward with the new arrival.

Among the many different styles of parenting is one called Slow Parenting – this is where a conscious effort is made by the parent not to schedule their child’s activities much, not to solve problems for their child and to in general let nature take its course.

Slow Parenting

Some of the goals of slow parenting are –

  • The central tenet of slow parenting is to let a child be happy and satisfied with their own achievements, whatever they may be; and even though those do not necessarily fall within the commonly understood meaning of the word “achievement”.
  • The aim is not to stress a child into doing things aimed at “success” and wealth acquisition and so on. Stress and overstimulation are not good for kids and it is this that slow parenting hopes to reduce.
  • Self discovery and ability to take care of themselves are values that this style of parenting hopes to instill in a child.
  • Unsupervised play out of doors and close to nature, as far as possible is advisable according to the proponents of slow parenting. Time spent in the natural world is emphasized here.
  • When it comes to toys as well, slow parenting has certain recommendations. It is the view commercially manufactured toys are limited in their application, and designed to encourage further purchases, and that they may also limit the imagination and natural exploration of a child. If however you give the child a wooden stick he or she may think of a million different uses for it!
  • While many parents take an active interest in children’s play guiding or helping them, slow parenting recommends standing back and letting the child decide what he or she wants to do.
  • Most TV programming is considered unsuitable for children under this parenting style.
  • The merits of after school classes such as football, ballet, drama, tennis, swimming and art class are questioned by this style of parenting.
  • The emphasis placed by parents on safeguarding kids against all risks is also something not advocated by slow parenting since it is thought that a child should be brought up to assess and combat reasonable risks.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

five × five =

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.