Mindy Kaling has been raising her daughter Katherine, six, and son Spencer, three under the principle of gentle parenting – but the actress has now revealed that she is rethinking the practice for one simple reason.
Mindy was a guest speaker at the BetterUp Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday April 10, joining organizational psychologist, author and chairman of the Center for Purpose and Performance Adam Grant for a discussion on how to lead with "levity and creativity".
Towards the end, Adam asked her a series of quick fire questions, one of which was: "What are you rethinking lately?" In response, Mindy quipped:"Gentle parenting I am rethinking. It’s this thing lots of LA and NY and certain progressive cities do, and sometimes you just have to scream at your kids… so I am rethinking it!"
Gentle parenting is an evidence-based approach that is found to help develop healthy, happy children through empathy, respect and understanding with a focus on enforcing consistent boundaries.
It can lead to reinforcing calm mindsets in children, establishing social skills, and reducing anxiety but it can also be hard to create a healthy balance between firm boundaries and being gentle.
Mindy, 44, keeps her kids' faces away from social media, to preserve their identity, and has been private about their paternity.
However in December, when Katherine "Kit" officially turned six-years-old, the actress and writer celebrated her adorable daughter's birthday with a compilation of photos and videos from their trip to Disneyland with Kit's brother Spencer.
The post also offered a rare glimpse into her daughter's personality with a cute audio clip of Kit loudly – and enthusiastically – singing Alicia Keys' 'Girl on Fire'. The pictures also revealed Kit's gorgeous long hair, which she wore tied in a ponytail for the fun day out.
"How are you 6 years old, Kit?! I remember when you were a newborn and I took you home from Cedars and you looked at me like 'does this lady even know what she's doing?' And I didn't!" Mindy captioned the post.
She continued: "But now you're 6 and every single day you bring me so much joy. Like most recently now you love shout-singing @aliciakeys 'THIS. GIRL. IS. ON. FIYYYAAHHH!!' You are on fire. I love you. Here we were at Disney yesterday."