Posted By Daisy on July 13, 2010

The diametric opposite of the Too, Too Progressive Parent is the Too, Too Traditionalist Parent.   Interestingly, the latter seem to have less of an internet presence than the former.  (My guess is that the Too, Too Traditionalist Parent is spending his or her time on talk radio as the preferred platform.)   I warned in advance that I’m less intimately acquainted with this breed, but when they do rear their heads on various forums they are as scary as their granola counterparts.

The “check the box” list of requirements for the Too, Too Traditionalist Parent:

1. Parents follow doctors’ orders regarding labor, birth, vaccination, etc.
2. The mother may breastfeed, but the nursing relationship will be from a few months to a maximum of one year, and it is a private affair.
3. Baby sleeps in a crib from day one.
4. Somewhere between four and six months, baby will be sleep trained with some form of “cry-it-out.”
5. The parents circumcise their male children.
6. The “rules of the house” are at least ten pages long, and enforcement (by means of time-out or otherwise) begins as early as possible.  Respect for the authority of adults is a must.
7. Potty training happens miraculously and almost overnight.  Something called “potty bootcamp” is sometimes involved.
8. An “indoor voice” is used everywhere — including outdoors.
9. Gender expectations are reinforced early and often.
10. The mother stays at home to parent her children full-time for the first several years at a minimum.

Again, plenty of room to agree or disagree on these practices, but when the practices are proclaimed with an air of superiority and absolutism then we’re moving into Too, Too territory.  The Too, Too Traditionalist Parent is often a capital-F Fundamentalist, and proud of it.

The following are the major logical fallacies upon which such a parent will rely when defending his or her own choices or attacking those of others:

• A belief that what doesn’t kill you most certainly will make you stronger.  In other words, it’s best to prepare children early for the realities they will face in a harsh and unforgiving world.  (There’s a premise underlying this as well — that the world is an always shall be harsh and unforgiving.)
• A literalist interpretation of The Bible as a parenting manual.   Once scripture is being bandied about, there’s no turning back to civilized dialogue with those who disagree.
• A belief that things have “always” been done X way and that any proposed new approach is suspect, untested, and part of an agenda.   (An interesting one, since “always” rarely means all the way back to the noble caveman — that is ironically the jurisdiction of the Too, Too Progressive Parent.)

There’s your summary.   Take a look back and compare with the previous post for s–ts and giggles.   There are as many similarities as there are differences once you begin to peel back the onion.

Related posts:

1. Taxonomy Continued: The Too, Too Progressive Parent
2. Taxonomy of the Too, Too Parent Class: Overview

Categories: What is a Too, Too Mama?
Tags: conservative, fundamentalist, parenting style, traditional mother