In today’s society we can notice a growing interest in compassionate and mindful parenting, shown in various sources. However, there is confusion regarding clear definitions and lack of scientific support in this field, which hinders a better understanding as well as the implementation of these approaches. In this bachelor’s thesis I analyse the concepts of compassionate and mindful parenting by highlighting their main characteristics and their influence on the child’s social and emotional well-being. I compare compassionate and mindful parenting with the established parenting styles such as permissive parenting and authoritative parenting. The aim of the research was to gain clearer insight into the practices of parents of pre-school children, who presumably use aspects of compassionate and/or empathetic parenting. By using a qualitative interview method, with a sample of eight mothers, I answered the research question. The results show that mothers educate themselves about compassionate and/or mindful parenting and that they try to use aspects of one or the other daily in their parenting practices. They have already noticed positive effects on their children. Due to the lack of research in this field in Slovenia, additional support from organisations and health care institutions would be more than welcome.
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