Today's Religions: Parenting

Babywise or Attachment Parenting?

Helicopter or Tiger Mom?

And… how are those kids turning out anyway?

In being parented or in parenting your child you have encountered the dilemma of an increasingly religious realm of parenting philosophies. We lock on to the correct approach, stick to it, evaluate ourselves based on it, and judge others against it.

“Like religious doctrine, we seldom adopt a parenting method casually. Schools of parenting inspire denomination-like loyalty in which communities of like-minded parents function as de facto churches. Yet, the tighter we hold to our set of rules, the worse we feel when we fail to uphold them… ‘What kind of parent are you?’ is shorthand for what kind of a person.” 
— David Zahl, Seculosity

So I entertain the question: What is God’s parenting philosophy? How would you imagine it?

I ponder this and imagine there is some connection, some power, between our divine parenting and our earthbound parenting. Perhaps we take our assumptions about God into our family life, expecting our parents to be like god-like to us, or exasperating our children with the same kind of unrealistic expectations we imagine God has for us.