beta mum

You are familiar with the notion of helicopter parenting, defined in Macquarie Dictionary as ‘a style of parenting in which parents are excessively attentive to and involved in the lives of their children’.  It is contrasted with free-range parenting,’ a style of parenting in which children are encouraged to be independent, even if this results in the occasional misadventure’ which, by the way, sounds slightly alarming. The number of different parenting styles listed in the dictionary has grown significantly. There is attachment parenting, concierge parenting, drone parenting, lawnmower parenting (smoothing the path ahead), passenger parenting, snowplough parenting (like lawnmower parenting) and tiger parenting.

The proponents of being a beta mum contrast it with tiger mum or an alpha mum, both those mums striving for the success of their children and filling every second of their lives with activities and classes and things that will improve their skills. This requires micromanaging their children’s lives and putting their own on hold.

The beta mum does not demand that their children can achieve in every activity while she maintains a perfect household.  Beta mums allow for mess.  They allow for the children to have some empty spaces in their time to be filled as the children choose. They don’t closely supervise the children’s homework. They try to maintain some of their own interests, possibly even hold down a job.

Interestingly AI gets a mention in this change of direction.  Is it actually worthwhile to push your child to go to uni if all those tertiary educated jobs will be taken over by AI?  Is it better to teach them woodworking on the basis that crafts cannot be done by the average software program?