A mom shared a pressing parenting concern on Reddit recently — and asked for help. The parenting philosophy known as "gentle parenting" has not been working for her, the concerned mother told the online community — and said she felt like "an emotional punching bag" for her four-year-old child. "I was not raised by gentle parents and I knew I needed to do better for my kids, so I really latched onto the gentle parenting philosophy," a Reddit user known as "mamaearthdumpling" wrote in the parenting subreddit in a post titled, "Gentle parenting burnout." REDDIT USERS CONSOLE ‘FRUSTRATED’ MOM WHO LEAVES BABIES CRYING ALONE WHILE SHE GETS 'FRESH AIR' The post continued, "I’m now four years into it and I feel so burnt out after four years of validating emotions and being an emotional punching bag for my kid …" The woman revealed that she's burned out from "coming up with compromises" and "turning everything into a fun game" — and biting her tongue when her young son "gets hurt doing something I asked him not to do." But what is gentle parenting, anyway?