Teach Your Children Well: Jordan Peterson Counsels Parents in New Series

By Emma Foley

Those adolescents who once picked up 12 Rules for Life or clicked on Jordan Peterson’s Harvard lectures have made their beds, straightened their spines, and settled into adulthood. Now married, their next challenge awaits: raising children.

Psychologist, author, and father-of-two Jordan Peterson meets this moment in an immersive, five-part video series. Exclusively on DailyWire+, Jordan Peterson’s Parenting offers candid, compassionate, and clinically informed counsel for moms and dads at various stages in the parenting journey.

“There is nothing you'll do in life that's more challenging, difficult, and rewarding than being a parent,” Peterson opens the pilot.

Across from Peterson in each episode sits a real parent (or parent-to-be) facing a challenge with their child. Parents of an unruly toddler share their struggle to get to church on time. A couple unpacks their teenaged son and daughter’s crippling mental health. A soon-to-be stepfather grapples with entering a young boy’s life—and welcoming that young boy into his.

Parents will impact and influence their child, says Peterson, but parenting in and of itself changes the parent. Aptly titled, Parenting sets out to inspire parents to soak in those stages that, be it due to the culture or online content, are often merely endured. To appreciate the Terrible Twos is quite the countercultural feat!

“You have little kids for a very short period of time,” Peterson presses. “It is a major mistake not to notice that and not to appreciate it.”

The Daily Wire’s choice of medium is strategic. Whether brand-new or seasoned to parenthood, mothers and fathers are often constrained in time and energy. So, rather than penning a sixth book, Peterson meets his audience where they are—catching a quick episode during naptime or letting Parenting play in the background during dinner prep.

The Daily Wire’s series comes at a time when young couples in America have fewer parenting peers than ever. Over the past couple of decades the United States has seen an historic decline in its birth rate—below replacement level. While policymakers debate incentives to redirect the line on a graph, Jordan Peterson ventures a different response to a deeper need: cultural instruction.

Despite Peterson’s credentials—a PhD in clinical psychology and decades in the practice—it is most beneficial that today’s moms and dads can hear real parents vocalize real struggles. Thanks to the Internet and social media, Millennials and older Gen Z-ers, now the parents of children and teens, are presented with more guidance than ever before. However, that guidance, often, is unsound.

Twenty-four percent of today’s parents have sought parenting advice from a social media influencer, according to a study from the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. One in four parents admit they failed to cross-reference their newfound advice with another parent, let alone an expert.

The same study found that nearly three in four Millennial parents practice “gentle parenting,” a relatively new style characterized by an “emphasis on communication, empathy, respect, and boundaries” and without threats or punishment. A Baby Boomer or Gen X parent, on the other hand, might suggest that’s a recipe for a spoiled brat.

Twenty-first century American parents must parse through what is sometimes conflicting advice.  Montessori emphasizes independence; “gentle parenting” offers discipline-free comfort. Should we co-sleep? Babywear? Baby-led wean? Add to that a host of parenting stereotypes—tiger moms, helicopter moms, absent fathers—and it’s no wonder many are left asking, What does my child really need?

Jordan Peterson drives home throughout his new series that every facet of parenting—from fostering discipline to instilling family values—works best when Mom and Dad are on the same page.

Less lecture and more workshop, Parenting provides actionable “homework” at the end of each episode for a couple to complete together. Write down three things your own father did well. Make a list of things your toddler can improve upon. Amidst diaper changes and daily chores, such conversations might be put indefinitely on the backburner. Instead, the Daily Wire invites couples to turn them into a date night.

As well as those already raising little ones, prospective parents may benefit from Peterson’s series, too. For newlyweds, it offers a bird’s-eye view of the next two-or-so decades. For singles, it highlights the maternal or paternal virtues worth cultivating—and what to look for when searching for the ideal complement.

Jordan Peterson centers much of his parenting framework around “social desirability,” the notion that one outcome of strong parenting is a young adult who thrives in society. What it means to be “socially desirable,” according to Peterson, changes in each phase of a child’s life: toddlers can manage outbursts; older kids can tolerate hearing the word “No;” pre-teens can tap into their self-esteem and boundaries in a moment of temptation.

Teaching such skills to a son or daughter is not easy; implementing long-term virtue requires the child’s delayed gratification and, in turn, the adult’s personal sacrifice. During each phase, Peterson invites mothers and fathers to notice how learning to parent a child reciprocally improves their own compassion, discipline, and patience.

And, he explains, kids will actually like their parents better when all is said and done well.

A TikTok trend sums up a coming-of-age realization. A middle-aged woman with the user’s obvious shared genetics can be seen opening a gift, dancing at a concert, or experiencing a new city for the first time.

Overlaid text reads, “Remember, it’s your mom’s first time living, too.”

That viral moment captures what Peterson urges parents to remember: no one starts out knowing how to raise a child. With humility, effort, and the right guidance, anyone can learn.

No parent is perfect. It is a privilege to realize that only once it is your turn to raise a child. With the grave and pervasive realities of addiction, abuse, and widespread divorce, many young adults are trying to parent well without ever having seen it done.

In a culture saturated with mixed messages and broken models, Peterson’s latest work aims to inspire the next generation of parents and revive the American nuclear family—a noble cause.

Rooted in Western values and grounded in clinical insight, Parenting serves as a timeless blueprint and a call for those stepping into the parenting journey—or still figuring out what it means—to embrace the challenging, difficult, and rewarding mission of bringing up children.

Emma Foley is a Content Manager at National Review in New York City. Originally from Pennsylvania, Emma earned a degree in Marketing and Theology from Boston College. You can follow her @emmafoleymedia.