Thinking back to those long, lecture-filled, car rides home, where my father rambled on about sportsmanship or my most recent grade on a math test, I wish he had un-parented me. My parents weren’t exactly helicopter parents, but I definitely got my fair share of punishments and never ending speeches.

Un-parenting doesn’t mean that parents don’t take care of their children, but rather that they turn off the part of parenting where they lecture and issue mandates or punishments for their child’s mistakes. Instead of going into auto-pilot and yelling at children for their choices, parents who use this method rely more on their instincts and try to listen in order to understand why their child made that choice. In that way, this method could be very positive because it teaches parents to be more objective rather than rushing to reprimand.

Natalie Tucker, professional coach of the un-parenting movement, believes that youngsters are not too immature to make good decisions. She claims that un-parenting is a positive approach to parenting that helps parents “abandon assumptions and listen cleanly” to their children, which can lead to better parent-child relationships.

I don’t care how good it may be for the environment, it’s going to take a lot to convince me that the next type of parenting is a good idea. Maybe after you read about it you’ll be able to tell me otherwise.