Modern parenting methods are complex and varied, but no longer 'Daiso'

Do As I Say, Or... — also known as Daiso parenting — was much more economical and cost-effective

- Raymond Goh

It is a truth universally acknowledged that parents love to compare.

We quietly compare how portly our cherubs were at the hour of their nativity, how strapping our youthful charges have since grown to be, and how happily convinced we are of their considerable scholastic prowess.

We might even go so far as to compare, betwixt ourselves and other fathers, the size of our Dickensian vocabulary.

(You'll be relieved to note that my Dickensian lexicon is so tiny that I've just about exhausted all my clever, classic prose, and nevermore shall I entreat you with such clumsy Austen-isms.)

Our love for comparing does not just compel us to measure up against fellow parents. More recently, we've taken it one step further — or back, depending on how you look at it — by pitting our parenting styles against those of our parents', analysing how we were raised versus how we are bringing up our own children today.

SENSIBLE NEW-AGE PARENTS

Modern modes of parenting, bolstered by years of rigorous psychological research and social media doomscrolling, are complex and varied.

As a parent, you can today choose to be gentle (prioritising empathy), respectful (treating our children as equal individuals) or authoritative (setting clear and consistent boundaries to ensure that our children are comfortable and confident).

Adopting these progressive parenting philosophies would certainly make one a well-informed and lucid adult caregiver of children.

On the other hand, you can also be a bad parent by being too permissive, too authoritarian or too helicopter.