In recent months, much has been made of ‘Fafo parenting’. Touted as the backlash to ‘gentle parenting’, the philosophy of ‘Fuck Around & Find Out’ seems to be that children should learn the natural consequences of poor decision-making. While gentle parenting advocates empathy and respect, reasoning and explanation, Fafo parenting dictates that rather than going nine rounds with your small person to persuade him or her to go to the loo before going out / to put a raincoat on when it’s coming down in stair rods / not to pull the cat’s tail, you should let them see what happens when they have the temerity to exercise their own free will.   

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Reading about how widely endorsed Fafo parenting apparently is on social media, my immediate reaction wasn’t: sounds sensible. Or: surely that’s a bit tough? But rather: who the hell has a parenting philosophy? If asked to formulate one, I’d like to think my response would be similarly evasive to Frank Sinatra’s when he was asked about his religious philosophy by Playboy magazine........

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