The idea of peaceful parenting is to raise your children into responsible, values-led adults, while being peaceful. So, you will enforce discipline, but without making a scene or bossing around your child or threatening them with punishments.
The idea is not about raising 'peaceful' or 'quiet' kids who are submissive. The child will remain full of energy or naughty (in a way that does not harm) or curious. It is the parent who has to change.
Peaceful parenting is parenting with the good of the relationship in mind.
In short, it’s what helps connect us emotionally to our family. It's the healer of wounds; the sage advice-giver in our mind that prompts us to choose being close more than being right. It enforces healthy boundaries in ways that help children feel seen and heard — and helps parents feel seen and heard, as well.
Peaceful parenting may or may not align with attachment parenting or any other particular style. It’s about a way of “being” more than it is about a way of “doing.” At its core, peaceful parenting stems from the delight we take in one another — living in a way that offers us joy with our children, and them, with us.
Why are we just hearing more about peaceful parenting now?
Peaceful parenting is, indeed, getting a lot of notice. Almost everywhere we can now find books, news articles, and social media posts about how to be a more peaceful parent.
But what does that mean, really? Is it just another trendy parenting fad?
There have been many parenting approaches throughout the years, but unlike many of them that have gone by the wayside (for very good reasons), peaceful parenting is a forever way to grow healthy families.
Here’s why we need it, and I'll be blunt: the world is hurting. We are all hurting. Stress and anxiety are skyrocketing, and not just because of the pandemic. We're in a dark place: A wide variety of social, emotional, political, racial, and other issues are all affecting our collective lack of well being.
In our collective hurts, we want something better; if not for us, then for our children.
Peaceful parenting is part of the healing we've all been seeking. We're hearing about peaceful parenting now because perhaps more than ever, we need it.