Gentle parenting, where parents acknowledge their children’s tantrums with “adult conversations”, is a far cry from the upbringing of former Home and Away star Lynne McGranger.
“I think some newer parents are a little more like … ‘let’s talk to our two-year-old like they’re 22’,” McGranger told The Senior.
Gentle parenting was coined in 2016 by British parenting writer Sarah Ockwell-Smith, and encourages parents to acknowledge a child’s “big feelings” as a way to manage tantrums.
The increasingly popular approach differs from parenting styles popular in the 1970s and 1980s, which often paired strict household rules with encouraging a child’s sense of independence.
But McGranger, who is a new grandparent to twin girls, said trying to reason with children, especially cheeky toddlers, is “BS”.
“None of this, ‘I know you’ve got big feelings,’ crap. I’m sorry,” she said.
“You say that to a two-year-old, and they would just say, ‘What are you talking about? I want that toy, and I want it now, and that’s my purpose in life’.”
But McGranger, a former primary school teacher, said while she was growing up, children’s bad behaviour was usually met with being sent to their room.
“When I was a kid, it was like, ‘Get in your room and shut up, and then come out when you’ve got your act together’,” she said.
“That’s me anyway, but that’s how I was brought up.”
McGranger is gearing up to star in Christmas in the Grandparents Club, the third in a trilogy of musical comedy stage shows which delve into the complexity and chaos of being a grandparent.
Christmas in the Grandparents Club is touring 26 venues across NSW, the ACT, Victoria and Queensland in November and December.
The show explores grandparents’ unique role at Christmas, including having to track down hard-to-find gifts, manage picky relatives’ dietary requirements, and deal with inevitable family spats.
The Gold Logie winner said returning to the show has become more meaningful since she herself became a nanna, or “Gaga”, to twin girls earlier in 2026.
“I’ve been badgering my daughter for years … And then suddenly there’s two of them, which was amazing,” she said.
“They’re not quite four months old, so they’re just starting to register, and they’re smiling and they’re gorgeous. It’s a wonderful time of of life.”
“They’re the apples of our eyes.”
Becoming a grandparent has been “amazing”, and was something she had hoped for over a long period.
“It’s really hard to explain until you are one [a grandparent] yourself,” she said.
“But watching your own daughter become a mother is one of the the most rewarding, heartwarming things.”
Becoming a grandparent has also made her and husband, Paul McWaters, more focused on longevity, as they hope to spend as much time as possible with the twins.
“Our desire now is to be around for a lot longer, so we can see them grow up, and we can teach them, and be silly with them, and laugh with them, and all of those things.”
