'F*ck Around and Find Out' Parenting Is Trending… Should You Try It?

After Bedtime with Big Little Feelings

Dear Media and Big Little Feelings

Big Little Feelings, After Bedtime, Deena Margolin, After Bedtime With Big Little Feelings, Kids & Family, Parenting, 105161, Kristin Gallant

4.7 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, The Wall Street Journal declared the death of gentle parenting and the rise of “F*ck Around and Find Out” discipline. One mom proudly threw her teenager, fully clothed, into a pond for spraying her with a water gun. Another claimed, “My kid is tougher than yours.” The internet is eating it up. Gentle parenting is getting dragged. FAFO parenting is trending. And if you’re a parent in 2025? You’re probably wondering: What actually works?

In this episode, we cut through the noise with the science. You’ll learn:

• What the WSJ article got right - and what it missed

• The truth about authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting

• Why fear-based parenting shuts down your child’s brain

• How to raise resilient, emotionally healthy kids without swinging to extremes

No hot takes. No TikTok drama. Just decades of research turned into real-life parenting you can actually do that builds better behavior and long term resilience.

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast is a dear media production.
0:05.2	Welcome back to another episode of After Bedtime.
0:08.2	This one is a spicy one because the internet is a buzz about gentle parenting versus
0:15.5	F around and find out.
0:17.0	So this week, the Wall Street Journal published a piece called Goodbye, Gentle Parenting,
0:21.7	hello, F around and find out parenting. And in this article, a parent describes the moment her
0:28.9	13-year-old sprayed her with a water gun. So she literally threw him into a pond, okay, clothes and
0:36.2	all. And she says in this article, quote,
0:38.6	some of the best lessons in life are the hard ones, unquote, she said. Another mom told the
0:44.7	Wall Street Journal, maybe your kids wouldn't like that. Mine would. My kid is tougher than
0:50.1	yours. That article blew up because it captured something parents everywhere are feeling,
0:56.2	that maybe gentle parenting has stopped working, that staying calm and validating everything
1:02.3	doesn't always cut it. And now parents are swinging hard in the other direction. But if you're
1:08.6	a parent in 2025 caught between these two extremes, one side saying,
1:14.1	validate every emotion and the other side yelling, fuck around and find out, while you're probably
1:19.4	wondering, what actually works? What kind of parent am I supposed to be? How do I raise a good,
1:26.2	kind, resilient, strong kid? This episode is here to clear it up.
1:31.8	We're going to tell you exactly how to parent, backed by science, built for real life, to have a kid who is
1:38.4	ready for the real world, who has emotional intelligence and is strong inside and out.
1:44.8	Welcome to After Bedtime, where the house is finally quiet, but the real noise begins.
1:51.2	The thoughts, the questions, the wondering if you're doing any of this right.
1:55.2	We're Kristen and Dina, child behavior experts, moms, and co-founders of big little feelings,
	...

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