[laughs]

So on the one hand, you have the old school tiger mom approach, my way or the highway, demanding obedient focus and achievement at all cost, right? On the other side, the modern pendulum has swung towards gentle parenting, which sounds lovely, until it slides into permissiveness and children learn they can manipulate their parents.

Now, what the decades of empirical literature tells us, however, is that the sweet spot is right in the middle with authoritative parenting.

Going back to tiger style is all rules and achievement, but the data shows us that when you weaponize control and demand obedience, you're getting compliance, but at a terrible cost.

The cost is anxiety, low self-worth, a deficit in independent thinking.

Kids who are controlled and told what to do, when, and how don't learn to make decisions.

They learn how to obey out of fear, and they learn how to not get caught.

Yeah.