I myself subscribe to both of these, but not exclusively. I parent as to the situation I'm in or my child is in. So, by knowing this in advance and accepting that my child isn't perfect, I can adjust fairly quickly to his changing emotional and physical environment. I sincerely believe that you can smother a child with too much attention. I think they become too dependent on the parents instead of developing their natural curiosity.
Life is all about mistakes.
You make thousands and yet you succeed in your career, marriage and yes even parenting. I don't subscribe to the parenting method of placing your child into a situation where you know he is going to fail. No it wasn't. What I'm talking about is throwing your child into the pool to force them to learn to swim, expecting your child to catch the ball every time you throw it or expecting them to be perfect angels in a nice restaurant. Children learn through repetition and mimicking Mom and Dad.