We live in what sociologists call “postmodernity,” one characteristic of which is the rise of progressivism—the anti-historical and even anti-commonsense notion that new ideas are better than old ideas.
Folks who are more than superficially familiar with my writing know I’m anything but progressive. I believe, for example, that the Bible contains timeless truth and is as relevant today as ever. Truth is a constant. The idea that truth is a relative and ever-evolving concept is postmodern.
The truth concerning children and parent responsibilities is constant. Since the first humans, every child has brought into the world the same fundamental nature, and that nature has not evolved; therefore, the principles of proper child rearing described in The Bible, the Instruction Manual given us by our Creator, are the principles to which every human generation should conform.
Needless to say, that traditionalist view is not shared by the mainstream in my profession, psychology, but then my profession is occupied by a greater percentage of atheists and far-leftists than any other (so says recent research, confirming what yours truly has been saying for at least forty years). To say I’m an outlier is an understatement. I’m a retro-revolutionary.
A slight, but relevant, digression: In the early 90s, I was invited to be a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was in its heyday at the time. In the preliminary phone conversation, Oprah’s producer told me the Queen of Postmodernity would interview me for maybe ten minutes and then bring on a panel of three to five other psychologists who would provide “balance.”
“I am the balance,” I told her, and pointed out that when Oprah entertained a mainstream psychologist, I was not invited to provide another point of view.
She insisted on sticking with the format, and so I declined the summons. My editor was furious. She called and lit into me, telling me an appearance on Oprah’s show—number one in the ratings at the time—guaranteed at least half a million in sales. I countered that some of Oprah’s interviewees were one-hit wonders, never heard from again, and I intended to be around for a long time.
Thirty-plus years later, I’m still here, as anti-progressive as ever; meanwhile, dozens of progressive parenting pundits have come and gone. The current batch of OHWs includes Becky Kennedy, Janet Lansbury, and Reem Raouda, all of whom do nothing more than repackage the failed ideas that emerged from the mental health professional community in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. So, “democratic parenting” has become “gentle parenting” and “collaborative parenting” is now “building conscious relationships.”
A rose by any other name is still a rose, and blah blah blah is forever blah blah blah.
Let’s examine three of the most influential progressive parenting blah blah blahs.
