Dolphin parents are  collaborative and have rules and expectations, but they also encourage independence and creativity. Like the dolphin, they're firm and flexible and use their community to nurture their child's nature. This balanced approach results in children who develop a sense of autonomy over their lives but still have impulse control. Dolphin children are able to follow appropriate rules and guidance and are better able to establish healthy independence. Research shows that children of dolphin parenting have better social skills, increased self-confidence and creativity, better academic performance and enhanced self-motivation.

Before parenting guides, magazines and blogs ruled the day, parents relied on their intuition, and that's perhaps all we need. The message of the "dolphin way" is to couple authoritative parenting with a balanced lifestyle, which is what many of today's kids are missing. The ideas can be remembered through the acronym POD (a pod is a group of dolphins): P = Play and exploration; O = Others, including a sense of community and contribution; and D = Downtime, including the basics of regular sleep, exercise and rest.
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We humans are capable of being great parents—maybe even better parents than any species out there due to the complex nature of our brain and behaviors. We just need to balance taking over our kids' lives with providing them guidance and direction. We also need to stop over-scheduling and over-instructing them. Only then will we cultivate our children's self-motivation and give them the time and space to connect with their own intuition. Intuition is the knowledge gifted to us by nature. It's an essential ingredient for the one trait consistently needed for lifelong success for parents and children of any species—the ability to adapt.