Last year, gentle parenting was declared dead. “The helicopter parent has been grounded,” The Today Show announced last summer, as so-called “Fafo” (“Fuck around and find out”) parents surged into fashion.
Now, a Guardian report from last week has revealed how mothers on social media are championing the tough, no-nonsense approach designed to teach children hard lessons through consequences rather than negotiation. But is Fafo parenting a genuine shift in child-rearing, or just the latest online fad?
According to various mum bloggers, Fafo parenting is about letting kids experience the consequences of their behaviour. Your child doesn’t like what’s for dinner? Let them go hungry. They won’t get off the iPad? Chuck it out the window. It’s a “tough luck” approach.
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Carolyn D. Gorman is a Paulson Policy Analyst at the Manhattan Institute.
Photo by Yuliia Pavaliuk/Getty Images