Viral TikTok sparks debate over rise of 'Fafo' parenting

A couple of weeks ago a video posted on TikTok by Paige Carter, a mother in Florida, went viral. Carter said she had thrown her daughter’s iPad out of the window for misbehaviour and filmed herself retrieving the tablet with a cracked screen; the clip has been watched 4.9m times and commenters praised “Learning Fafo at an early age.” Fafo is shorthand for “Fuck around and find out.” Another widely shared clip shows a mother shutting her front door and turning off the outside light when her small child said he was going to leave home; it has been liked 1.5m times and, the mother said, the child learned “the meaning of Fafo.” The Wall Street Journal last summer described a rise in Fafo parenting and the end of “gentle parenting,” a trend that began about 10 years ago.

Supporters of Fafo say it teaches children independence and the consequences of their actions, even if uncomfortable, while critics say it relies on fear and humiliation and can damage trust.

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