Parents navigating high expectations, limited time, and an endless stream of advice were urged to strike a balance between affection, clear boundaries, and emotional connection on International Respectful Parenting Day on September 2, 2026. Reporting from Santo Domingo, Dominican newspaper Diario Libre highlighted insights from family coach Vida Gaviria and psychologist Laura Pichardo on how modern families can achieve healthy discipline without sacrificing warmth.
International Respectful Parenting Day is observed globally to promote positive discipline practices that foster mutual respect and emotional security between caregivers and children. In the Dominican Republic, where parents increasingly seek guidance on child development, experts note that the overwhelming volume of available advice often creates confusion rather than clarity.
Modern parents are surrounded by guidance from social media, child development specialists, books, podcasts, and parent chat groups offering answers for every temper tantrum, growth stage, and household decision. Gaviria explained that this abundance of information paradoxically leaves many mothers and fathers feeling more anxious and uncertain than before.
Gaviria's work as a family coach grew out of her personal experience as a mother and communicator. She founded Modo Mamá, a project that began by sharing advice on child nutrition before expanding into radio programs, educational workshops, public lectures, a family calendar, and her book titled Vida en familia. Her central philosophy rests on the principle that parents must reconnect with themselves and their children before striving for perfection.
Impact of Technology and External Advice
Digital technology has fundamentally altered family dynamics by offering virtually unlimited access to information while simultaneously reducing meaningful physical presence between parents and children. Gaviria noted that today's adults often focus considerable energy on acquiring material goods, academic degrees, and professional achievements, leaving children with less dedicated time from key adults in their lives.
As a result of this shift, many parents genuinely desire to raise their children well but struggle to decide which external sources to trust. Gaviria recommended that parents reduce the noise from outside opinions, trust their own intuition, and prioritize choices that bring peace to their household.
She observed a major paradox in contemporary parenting: the more mothers and fathers search for external answers, the further they risk distancing themselves from what is actually occurring inside their own homes.
Establishing Clear Boundaries Without Rigidity
Addressing a widespread misconception, Gaviria emphasized that respectful parenting does not mean raising children without rules or allowing them to act without limits. She stated that clear boundaries provide essential security for children and must be adapted to each developmental stage.
Rather than imposing rules for the sake of authority, Gaviria advocated for establishing understandable expectations paired with consistent, logical consequences. She explained that effective parenting combines the strongest elements of different discipline styles.
Authoritarian parenting offers clear boundaries and consistency in enforcing them, while flexible parenting contributes joy, adaptability, and respect for a child's unique life path. Gaviria maintained that striking a balance between these two approaches allows families to build an environment rooted in trust, composure, and mutual enjoyment.
Listening and Psychological Benefits
A key shift in respectful parenting involves moving away from a correction-focused mindset toward one that seeks to understand the child's perspective. Instead of immediately reprimanding a child by telling them they acted incorrectly, Gaviria suggested pausing to ask how they feel about what they did.
Listening to a child's account of an event and understanding how they experienced it serves as a powerful tool for preventing future conflict and strengthening emotional connection. Laura Pichardo, a psychologist and family therapist, agreed that respectful parenting builds functional and healthy bonds through love, respect, and strategies that pair affection with firmness.
Pichardo explained that this balanced approach fosters security, self-confidence, and autonomy in children while helping parents maintain emotional equilibrium. She identified key benefits for children raised under this framework:
- A more solid foundation of self-esteem
- A stable and secure emotional bond with primary caregivers
- Enhanced social skills for interacting with peers and adults
- A greater capacity to manage interpersonal conflicts in a healthy manner
Time Management and Caregiver Well-Being
Busy family schedules often leave parents with only brief moments to interact with their children during the day. Gaviria urged parents to evaluate the quality of their engagement rather than focusing solely on the quantity of time spent together.
She pointed out that being physically present in the same room while replying to work messages or focusing on external tasks does not mean being emotionally available to a child. To bridge this gap, Gaviria described fun and shared play as an essential family glue that strengthens bonds just as effectively as serious conversations when time is limited.
Gaviria also highlighted the vital necessity of caregiver self-care, stressing that taking care of oneself is a fundamental responsibility for anyone raising children. She stated that no parent can give what they do not possess, rejecting the societal pressure to achieve ideal motherhood.
When addressing the pressure to be a perfect parent, Gaviria described that expectation as horrible, pathological, exhausting, and sickening. She emphasized that parents should measure themselves against the actual needs of their own children rather than comparing their family to the mother next door.
Conscious parenting is ultimately less about achieving flawless execution and more about learning to be genuinely present by listening, setting clear limits, offering accompaniment, enjoying family life, acknowledging mistakes, and practicing self-care. Gaviria concluded that the journey begins with a fundamental question parents rarely pause to ask themselves: how they want to feel while fulfilling their role as a parent.
