Parenting styles can have a lasting impact on a child’s development, particularly if they are raised in the spotlight.
From reality stars to singers and actors, celebrity parents take vastly different approaches to raising their children.
While some have been criticized for letting their kids rule the roost ‘out of guilt’ of busy schedules and divorce, others have taken employed drastic approaches like burning their child’s shoes to teach them to stop misplacing them.
And supermodel parents like Yolanda Hadid have even come under fire for promoting ‘harmful’ and ‘extreme’ diet habits, while others like Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher refuse to leave them inheritance so they don’t grow up spoiled.
Now, psychologists have revealed to DailyMail.com which celebrities follow different parenting approaches – and which ones could be setting their children up for a lifetime of emotional issues.
Psychologists told DailyMail.com that Kourtney Kardashian practices attachment parenting, which includes co-sleeping, joint baths and responding to the child’s every need immediately
Kourtney said she slept in the same bed as her first born son Mason, now 12, until he was seven years-old. Her daughter Penelope, now 10, still shares her bed ‘pretty much every night’
Dr Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist from Beverly Hills, California, told DailyMail.com that Kourtney Kardashian shows signs of ‘attachment style’ parenting.
Attachment parenting aims to secure an exceptionally close bond between mother and child.
This could mean dedicating as much time as possible to the 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 through co-sleeping, joint bathing, and giving birth without pain medication.
Kourtney admitted last year that she still co-sleeps with 10-year-old daughter Penelope ‘pretty much every night,’ and she also did so with 12-year-old Mason until he turned seven.
‘I find, with my kids, that coming from a more loving approach works best,’ Kourtney said in an episode of The Kardashians last year.
Dr Lieberman noted that ‘smothering’ parents are linked to a greater risk of the child developing depression and anxiety in later life.
‘Depending on the psychological make-up of each child, [attachment parenting] will either make them want to continue to cling for more years than is really appropriate, or it will make them flee to get away from her faster, because [a parent] has been overbearing,’ she said.
Both these problems are associated with emotional troubles in adulthood, she said.
Kourtney isn’t the only celeb practicing attachment parenting though.
Musician Alanis Morissette has opened up about embracing this style and ‘unschooling’ her three children.
The ‘Ironic’ hitmaker, now 50, told People in 2020: ‘For me, attachment parenting is, on a very basic level, eye contact, skin-on-skin, responsivity, gentleness.’
‘The word “attunement” is [important] in parenting but also in marriage and best friendship and professional relationships… If we’re not attuned to each other and we’re missing each other like ships passing, there’s not a chance for that deep connection that will be the hotbed for their whole life.’
Dr Sarah Oreck, reproductive psychiatrist and CEO and co-founder of Mavida Health, told DailyMail.com: ‘Alanis is another one who shares a strong emphasis on breastfeeding and 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢-wearing for her children, showing a strong attachment-focused approach.’
An even looser approach is permissive parenting, in which parents ‘lack rules or structure, will not implement consequences, and tend to let their children run their household,’ Courtney Morgan, a licensed therapist and founder of Counseling Unconditionally in Kentucky, told DailyMail.com.
Licensed therapist Courtney Morgan pointed to Kim Kardashian as one example of a permissive parent, ‘as she allows her children to cause disruption in her home and appears to have very relaxed rules or expectations’.