What Type of Parent Are You?

Have you been keeping up with all the hype about types of parents? There are so many names for the types of parents out there and most are so outlandish that they don’t even make much sense. Do you think being a certain kind of parent really makes a difference and would  you modify your parenting techniques after learning about a different style of parenting? The excerpt from an article below explores the “types” of parents and the importance of having your own personal parenting type. The link to the full article follows the excerpt.

Are you a tiger mother? How about a French maman? Non? Perhaps you fancy yourself an attachment parent or subscribe to the free range philosophy. It seems no matter how you choose to raise your children, there’s a name for it.

Truth is, most days I “parent” based on my family’s needs and what the day throws my way. If I want the kids out of the house, then I’m free range, insofar as they stay in the backyard. When there’s wine with dinner again, perhaps it’s because I’m feeling tres Francais. And to the kid giving my autistic son a hard time, let me “snow plow” the problem away. I wear different parenting hats based on the situation because I find parenting is rarely black and white.

This idea that you can be a certain “type” of parent is new. When my mom was raising me and my sister in the 1970s I don’t think she gave much thought to how she interacted with us. She was a stay at home mom, busy doing chores and preparing dinner while we entertained ourselves. Dr. Spock (the parenting guru, not the dude from Star Trek) pretty much had a corner on the mommy advice market back then and his message was: “You know more than you think you do.” Mom must have taken this to heart because, unlike my generation, she didn’t agonize over every parenting decision. So when did everything change? Why the push to categorize how parents diaper or discipline their kids?

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/What+kind+parent/8334777/story.html#ixzz2TOlBnzu9