Puddle Parenting: Are You a Puddle Parent? Why This Dad Hopes You'll Practice This Parenting Style by Mike Prochaska

We have all heard about helicopter parents, lawnmower parents and free-range parenting – all parenting styles that didn’t really fit my own style of parenting. The other day I read an awesome article on Scary Mommy about a new parenting style: the puddle parent. Finally, a parenting style that I could relate to.

I feel like kids should be free to explore the world and figure out on their own what they want to do without parents telling them. Children need freedom to explore the world on their own without being pushed or forced into doing things – unless they want to try them! Sometimes that means allowing kids to try things you never would imagine them liking. For example, my daughter loves sewing. I would have never known that until she bought a sewing kit at Goodwill and tried it out. Then she brought home a sewing book from the school library. I would never have guessed she loved sewing!

Puddle parents let their kids choose their own paths. That means a lot of different things to families. What makes one puddle parent might not make another.

Here’s a little from the Scary Mommy article on puddle parenting: “First, let’s get a working definition of ‘puddle parent.’ Puddle parents encourage their children to veer off the path typically prescribed for them, who promote creativity and thinking outside the box, and who value things like kindness and authenticity and experiences more than academic and worldly success.”

As I said before, instead of pushing kids to do things, let them decide what they want to do. I feel that in the modern world we are living in, kindness is more important than academic success. Why? Because we need to take care of each other. I feel like empathy will get our children farther in life than pushing them to do things. Let kids explore the world and find their own passion.

What do you think? What's your parenting style?

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