The Parenting Lessons of The Kids Are All Right

Recently, a study was released which revealed that lesbian mothers raise kids who are on average happier, smarter and more socially well-adjusted, an idea which is underlined by the picture of the family unit in Focus Features' current hit comedy from Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right.

Riffing off the title of Cholodenko's movie, Adriana Barton from the Globe and Mail has written a piece called "With two moms, the kids are all right." For the article, Barton met with a lesbian married couple raising a young son and spoke with the NYU sociologist who authored the recent research paper.

And, it turns out, though lesbian parents seem to have an edge, Barton says that "there’s nothing stopping straight parents from following their lead."

Here's her assessment on why:

Lesbian mothers tend to be authoritative rather than authoritarian, and combine verbal limit-setting with empathy, consistency and affection, notes Judith Stacey, a sociologist at New York University who co-authored a review of studies on lesbian parents published earlier this year.It’s the kind of parenting that research has shown to be best for kids, Dr. Stacey says. “It doesn’t require being a lesbian.”

You can read the entire article here.