Exclusive | Im a horizontal parent haters call it lazy but my kids will thank me later

Brandon Bates’ kids run all over him — and he takes it lying down. However, the married dad to 11-year-old daughter Madison and 7-year-old son Brandon is no pushover. He’s simply a “horizontal” parent. “Horizontal parenting lets me enjoy a little relaxation while playing with them without having to worry about getting too exhausted,” Bates, 40, from central New Jersey, told The Post. “I’m lying down, they’re climbing all over me, we’re bonding,” he said.“It’s an all-around win.”Unfortunately, however, not everyone sees the laidback approach — which, as you guessed, involves laying down on the floor, bed, couch and beyond — as a success. Deemed a “lazy” way of caring for kids by naysayers online, the term coined by author Michelle Woo — who literally wrote the book, “Horizontal Parenting: How to Entertain Your Kid While Lying Down,” all about easygoing play in 2021 — is a method used by moms and dads who hope to avoid burnout by scoring a few precious moments of rest while still engaging with their broods. It’s a bit more interactive than the once-viral “sittervising” strategy, a completely hands-off form of supervising from a distance while the kids entertain themselves.

And it’s a far cry from the ever-controversial “benign neglect” trend, a laissez-faire movement that virtually grants children complete autonomy. Instead, Woo says horizontal parenting offers a mini mental health boost to mothers and fathers and sparks interactive creativity in kiddos.  “It’s a really fun, unconventional way of connecting,” said Woo, 43, a married mom of two from Los Angeles. She first dreamed up the nontraditional mommy-and-me technique when her daughter, Maggie, now age 11, was an energetic 6-year-old and son Max, now age 6, was a newborn.Her husband inspired the trend one day during playtime when the pair got down on the floor for some chill fun with the tots. To write her how-to, Woo collected 50 inno...