Student Support Services
August 3, 2026 – Edition 9
Parenting Styles
There is so much parenting advice available. In theory, that’s great. You can hop on social media and read posts from ‘perfect’ parents who can tell you exactly how to raise a baby, toddler, tween or teen. With so much information available, who do you believe?
Parents who subscribe to the authoritative method will tell you to enact strict boundaries, while those describing themselves as ‘free-range’ will encourage you to give your children freedom and let them problem-solve. How do you know which style is best?
We all know the perfect parent is a myth. We make mistakes and learn on the job.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ parenting manual and the vast majority of parents will do the best they can under the circumstances they find themselves in.
Checking the credentials of the author of the article or post you are reading may help to guide you as to the reliability of the information you are reading. Trained professionals are unlikely to tell you what is right and what is wrong and are more likely to supply guidance and give suggestions for strategies that you may like to try.
The article below by Peter Gray, professor of psychology and neuroscience, describes intensive parenting where parents “may feel compelled to drive their kids everywhere they need or want to go, serve as their alarm clock and calendar, choose their extracurricular activities, make sure they get to those activities, monitor their schoolwork, guard them from every possible harm”.
The author provides suggestions for how parents can balance the needs of their children while developing their independence and the qualities needed to be a fully functioning adult. While you may not be an intensive parent, there are strategies in the article that apply to parenting in general and may help you to separate fact from fiction in parenting advice.
How to Do Less for Your Children
Mandy Barr, Sarah Quin and Joanne Devota-Rando
School Counsellors
