Gentle parenting can be interpreted in many different ways and clearly the extremes (as with the extremes of anything at all) are undesirable.
It need not mean failing to set boundaries, which are the necessary structures within which a child can feel safe to learn and grow - and become a sociable human being.
Sane gentle parenting can be summed up as trying to put oneself in the mind of a child with all their lack of experience and puzzlement about the world, and their developing emotional regulation abilities.
So - you have a rule, say - you are not rude to people. A gentle parent will model this behaviour by not being rude themselves and when a child fails at this they will ask themselves why the child has failed - what made them do this? They can then address that whilst at the same time holding fast to the principle that the action was wrong.
Say a child has a temper tantrum at being asked to do something they do not want to do. You can get annoyed at them and punish them for it, or you can ask yourself why it is hard for them ... "I know it feels annoying that you have to do this as you really wanted to watch TV and are fed up about it, but you must do it because ......."
Children need those boundaries - gentle parenting supports those whilst also recognizing that they might be hard for the child.
