Seth Meyers said his children find it funny when he “drops the hammer.” Seth Meyers, a father of three, added that he tried to be a gentle parent, but “it didn’t work.” Gentle parenting is a parenting method that emphasizes communication rather than punishment.
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Seth Meyers tried gentle parenting, but concluded it didn’t work.
In an interview with NBC’s Today on Monday, the “Late Night” host said kids aren’t scared of him.
Myers, 50, said she was afraid of her father, who was a father who would “drop the hammer.” But when he drops the hammer, the kids think it’s funny, he said.
He recalled times when he was frustrated with his children and they said, “Look, Dad’s about to lose. That’s funny.”
“I think they understand. It’s like they’re saying, ‘These are different times,'” Myers said, adding that children are “walking around like they have diplomatic immunity.”
Myers has two sons, Ash, 8, and Axel, 5, and a daughter, Addie, 2, with his wife Alexi Ash.
When asked about her thoughts on gentle parenting, Myers said, “I don’t see any results coming from gentle parenting.” But his kids love it, he said. “They will give it a high rating.”
At one point, he recalled, his wife told him his son had a “seizure.” “I’m like, ‘You got a strike?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I think it’s a strike five? ”
“They’re good kids,” the comedian concluded. “I’m probably not a great parent.”
How to successfully raise gentle children
Unlike the traditional approach of authoritarian parenting, where parents punish children for misbehaving, gentle parenting emphasizes empathy and understanding of children’s feelings.
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“Rather than ignoring their perspective, you focus on the needs and issues underlying their behavior,” former kindergarten teacher Chrissy Horton previously wrote in Business Insider.
This parenting style went viral on TikTok last year, where parents shared how to correct their children by communicating rationally rather than punishing or disciplining them. The hashtag #gentleparenting has been viewed 7.5 billion times on TikTok.
But gentle parenting has received its fair share of criticism. Kristin Carrig, who runs a preschool, wrote in BI in July that she had observed how following a gentle parenting script reduced parents’ engagement with their children.
“Some parents accept the idea that they can optimize their parent-child relationship by becoming not their authentic selves but the “ideal” parents normatively presented by experts with very different interactional styles.” I’m worried that. From my parents,” she wrote.
This idea echoes what Hannah Nwoko, a millennial mother, previously told BI. “I always felt like I was walking on eggshells. The pressure to be the perfect, patient parent was wearing me down,” she said. Nwoko realized that good parenting enables bad things.
Lauren Salles Gumpert, a speech therapist and mother, stopped caring for her child because she found it emotionally exhausting. “I want my daughters to see me as a person. I don’t want them to resent me for allowing myself to be their emotional (or physical) punching bag.” ” she wrote.
However, there are ways to successfully raise gentle children.
Mary Benedetti, a Toronto social worker and psychotherapist, said gentle parenting works when parents set ground rules for what is acceptable behavior. “We need clear, kind, but firm limits,” she told BI.
Parent and former teacher Amber Adrian advises parents to set behavioral expectations from the beginning and that while not all misbehavior requires punishment, it should be handled appropriately. he said.
At the end of the day, Adrian said building a strong relationship with your child is most important.
“Good relationships can withstand the tension and conflict that arises when children’s expectations are not met because they have a foundation of trust and unconditional love,” she wrote.
Representatives for Mr. Myers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI outside of normal business hours.
