Nollywood actress Mary Remmy Njoku has stirred debate by openly challenging the effectiveness of gentle parenting, describing it as unrealistic in practical situations.

In a candid Instagram post, she questioned the logic behind negotiating with children whose cognitive development is still in progress.

Njoku expressed frustration over what she described as the disconnect between parenting theories and real-life experiences.

“Please, who started this gentle parenting?” she asked.

She criticised the idea of reasoning extensively with children, suggesting that such methods often fail to produce lasting behavioural change.

“Who gathered all of us and said we should now begin to negotiate with tiny humans whose brains are still under construction?” she added.

Using humour, she likened her attempts at calm explanation to delivering a complex lecture in an unreceptive environment.

“Because explain to me why I’m calmly saying… like I’m delivering a TED Talk in a foreign language inside the Balogun market,” she said.

Njoku argued that even children seem aware that such discipline lacks consistency.

“Even my kids know this won’t last. Nope,” she concluded.

Her remarks have reignited the long-standing divide between proponents of strict discipline and advocates of empathetic parenting.