Balanced Parenting: The Approach
Pillar 1: Deconstructing Attachment Theory
Attachment theory is a very popular parenting theory that has been criticized for adding to parent anxiety and a societal over-focus on children. This pillar seeks to deconstruct the theory in order to help ease parents’ anxiety and aid them in promoting more balanced relationships with their children. Learn about the 3 main limitations of attachment theory below.
Pillar 2: The Five Principles
The five principles of Balanced Parenting represent the parenting perspective of Bowen Family Systems theory, a main family therapy theory. Bowen theory is popular among family therapists, but its parenting perspective–which includes many groundbreaking ideas–has yet to reach public consciousness. This may be because, up until recently, it is has mostly been taught in academic spheres. This pillar aims to help its ideas to be more accessible to parents.
Pillar 3: Shifting the Paradigm
Balanced Parenting aims to communicate a paradigm-shift that counters today’s anxious, child-focused culture. Making this paradigm shift can be difficult, because it requires letting go of our anxiety about our children which is often fed by “evidence” attachment theorists have put forth to support an over-focus on children. This pillar provides food for thought that can help parents shift toward a calmer perspective and fully embrace balanced relationships with their children.
Pillar 4: Steps Toward Change
Balanced Parenting has a lot of theoretical aspects as it aims to communicate a new way of thinking about parenting. However, it is not merely theoretical–this pillar provides actionable steps that show how parents can apply this new way of thinking to their lives. The steps help parents to move away from an anxious over-focus on their children and toward greater balance in their relationships with their children and in their lives.