I actually don't think gentle parenting is about lacking discipline at all - it is teaching your child self- control and teaching them to understand appropriate behaviour without force, anger or smacking. They learn from you in a gentle way and it becomes part of their personal development. Setting boundaries is something that doesn't need to be done in a non-gentle way.

I think a lot is about leading by example as well eg. when I am waiting in line for something we talk about why it's important to be patient and let other people have their turn before we have ours etc. We also make sure we use manners and treat people with respect regardless of what we are doing so our girls can see what we believe to be appropriate behaviour. I don't think there is any point trying to teach children something that you don't do yourself as they watch everything you do and they do model themseves on your behaviour.

I also try to teach consequences for actions that are age appropriate eg. if DD1 throws her food on the floor she helps clean it up. It is involving children in discovering what happens when they do things and enables them to take responsibility for their own actions.