Old School Said Suck It Up. New School Says Give Yourself Grace. I Think You Need Both — and Here's Where the Line Is.

Robbie is genuinely somewhere in the middle on this one. He believes in grace, self-compassion, and acknowledging that parenting is hard. He also gets annoyed when he sees a five-minute Instagram video of a parent melting down because their kid said no. Both things are true at the same time and this episode is his honest attempt to figure out where the line actually is.This is also the episode where he talks about holding his son down to brush his teeth — not as abuse, as parenting — and makes the case that sometimes you just have to do the hard thing even when it's uncomfortable for everyone involved.Topics covered: the social media self-compassion culture that's genuinely helpful in small doses and genuinely counterproductive in excess, why gentle parenting and grit aren't opposites and you actually need both, the brushing teeth example that encapsulates Robbie's entire parenting philosophy in one scenario, why the old school "they turned out fine" bar is too low, and what the spectrum of discipline and affection actually looks like when you're doing it right.Send a message about the episode! Support the showhttps://linktr.ee/unhingedfather