Time to Polish My Whip

A report by the British think-tank Demos making the news says that the best kind of parenting is good ol' tough love.

Of course, "tough love" can be defined rather broadly. Both Homer Simpson and Ned Flanders would likely say each practices tough love, as would that asshole dad who thinks insulting his kid all the time is "toughening" him up. The think tank defines the parenting practice as "a balance of warmth and discipline," which is much better than a "laissez-faire, authoritarian or disengaged upbringing."

Tough-love parenting develops high-character kids no matter what their parents' income, but the report also notes that if you're poor and divorced, you're gonna have a more difficult time. So what else is new?

I'll admit that my own parenting runs the full gamut: warmth ("I love you, but you can't do this"), laissez-faire ("I'm making believe I didn't see you eat that 12th Oreo"), authoritarian ("You can't have the RED cup! You're having the BLUE cup, and that's FINAL!") to disengaged ("Why is he throwing up all those Oreos?").