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Tough Love

Parents who take a tough love approach to bringing up their children give them a better chance of doing well in life, according to a report in the Telegraph.

Parents who take a “tough love” approach to bringing up their children give them a better chance of doing well in life, according to a report in the Telegraph.

Youngsters who receive a combination of warmth and discipline from their parents are more likely to develop crucial qualities such as self-control, empathy and determination, experts claim. The study found that children’s upbringing during preschool years profoundly determined development of social skills which allow them to get on later in life.

Children with "tough love" parents were twice as likely to become empathetic, more determined in the face of difficulty, and better at controlling their emotions and avoiding temptation, by the age of five, than those with “disengaged” carers.

The report, called Building Character, found that children from the richest backgrounds were more than twice as likely to develop these characteristics than those from the poorest families. Children with married parents were twice as likely to show the traits than children from lone parent or step-parented families.

The study concludes: "Confident, skilful parents adopting a 'tough love' approach to parenting, balancing warmth with discipline, seem to be most effective in terms of generating these key character capabilities.”

Read more:

    Tough love article from the Telegraph