Parenting Styles: Which Ones Are We (And Should We Care?)

Helicopter moms, snowplow moms, tiger moms, free-range moms…these parenting types are usually defined in the negative: well, at least I’m not THAT. But might there be useful takeaways from any parenting style that we can custom-blend for ourselves?

Helicopter moms, snowplow moms, tiger moms, free-range moms… we usually define all of these parenting types in the negative: well, at least I’m not THAT.

But are there useful takeaways from each of these parenting styles that we can combine cafeteria-style to create our own? Can we reject some of the judginess of free-range parenting, or the tyranny of tiger momming, and still find things to love? What do we miss when we reject other moms' ways of doing things full-stop?

Here are links to the books and articles we mention in this episode:

Frank Bruni: Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania

Amy Chua: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Foster Cline and Jim Fay: Parenting With Love and Logic

Nancy Gibbs for Time: Roaring Tigers, Anxious Choppers

The Grammarphobia Blog: The Original Tiger Mother?

Dr. James R. Laider for Autism Watch: The "Refrigerator Mother" Hypothesis of Autism

Heather Marcoux for Motherly: 'Snowplow parents' and the lessons we can take from them

Jessica McCrory Calarco for The Atlantic: 'Free Range' Parenting's Unfair Double Standard

Claire Cain Miller and Jonah Engel Bromwich for NYT: How Parents Are Robbing Their Children of Adulthood

Arti Patel for Global News: ‘Panda parenting’ is all about giving children more freedom — but does it work?

Katie Roiphe for Slate: The Seven Myths of Helicopter Parenting