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Parenting Styles

Parenting styles refer to the combination of various strategies used by parents to raise the children. According to Diane Baumrind, there are four parenting styles to which parents are grouped, and this includes the authoritative parent, permissive or indulgent, the uninvolved or neglecting parent and the authoritarian parent (Steinberg, Laurence, and Nancy). The type of parenting affects the performance as well as the discipline of the children. It is important to adopt the best parenting style so that parents can influence a healthy growth and development of their children as they interact. Each of the parenting styles takes a different approach in raising children.

The authoritarian parent

The authoritarian parents have the perception that children should do as they are asked to and therefore should follow their parent’s rules without exception (Chao). These kind of parents are famous due to their saying the ‘Because I said so’ in the instances to which the child questions their parents the reason behind following the rule. The parents in this style aren’t open either are they interested in any negotiations as their main focus is the obedience of their children. The authoritarian parents do not allow their children to make decisions for any challenge or problem they face but instead, they make the rules and enforce the consequences with little regard to the opinion of their children. The parents in this category may use punishments to instill discipline to their children, and thus they invest in making the children feel sorry for their mistakes rather than teaching their children to make better choices.

Children who are brought up by the parents who adopt this style tend to follow the rules much on time as they are brought up by strict parents. The children brought up with this style of parenting have a higher risk of developing self-esteem problems because their opinions are not valued since they were young. They may also be aggressive or hostile as they spend much of their time focusing on anger to which they feel on their parents rather than thinking about their future. As a result of being brought up by strict parents, the children in this category end up becoming good liars to evade punishment from their parents.

Authoritative Parenting

The authoritative parents make rules for their parents, but they also consider the opinions of their children (Baumrind). The parents validate their children’s emotions while at the same time making it clear that they are in charge of everything despite providing a room for the children’s opinion. The authoritative parents invest most of their time and energy in instilling discipline to their children. The reason is to prevent behavioral problems before they arise. The parents using the authoritative style of parenting are considered to use positive discipline strategies to their children to reinforce a behavior. Among the positive discipline, plans include the praise and reward systems that act as a motivation to the children to maintain the required behavior.

According to research, the children who are brought up by parents who use the authoritative style of parenting are most likely to be responsible adults in the future and to whose the self-esteem is raised making them feel comfortable in the expression of their opinions. The children who are raised with the authoritative discipline are often happy and successful in future, they are also more likely to be better decision makers and evaluating the risks. The children are also expected to make good leaders as they possess the qualities of a good leader such as ethical decision makers, discipline, timekeepers and at the same time have a higher confidence and self-esteem level as they were encouraged by their parents to provide opinions.

Permissive Parenting

Permissive parents are lenient to their children and often avail during the cases of a serious problem (Watson). The parents are quite forgiving, and they might give privileges if the child begs for them. The permissive parents are seen to take the role of a being more of a friend than being a parent and encourage the children to inform them about their issues. Besides, the parents on this category don’t put much effort into discouraging lousy behavior or bad choices. Children brought up by parents who are permissive are more likely to struggle in academics, they also exhibit behavioral problems as they do not appreciate the presence of rules and authority. The children may suffer low esteem as well as report cases of sadness. The children are also at a higher risk of obtaining lifestyle diseases such as obesity as their parents don’t struggle to limit the kind of food being taken.

Neglecting or Uninvolved Parenting

The uninvolved parents have little knowledge about the deeds of their children as they are not concerned about the welfare of their children (Hildyard, Kathryn and David). In this type of parenting, there tend to be few rules for the children, and the children may receive less guidance from their parents, less nurturing as well as reduced parenting attention. The parents expect their children to raise themselves with little or no assistance coming from them. The parents do not devote much time or even their energy into meeting their children needs as they are always neglectful of their responsibilities although it is not always intentional as at times they lack the knowledge about child development. At times, they may be overwhelmed with other problems such as work and other responsibilities that separate them from their children only availing themselves at the times of availability of which it is rare. The children brought up by uninvolved parents are likely to have self-esteem issues, and they perform poorly in school. The kids are also prone to indiscipline as their parents have no time correcting theory behaviors.

Various parenting styles instill different personalities to the children during growth and development. Children who are given opportunities to express their opinions with their parents have higher chances of being disciplined in the sense that their parents instill correctional measures in the case of in case the child goes against the set rules. For the uninvolved parents, the children may suffer lack of discipline, and they may be exposed to lifestyle problems as their parents have no control over their lives. Therefore parenting styles play a vital role in the growth and development of children.

Work Cited

Baumrind, Diana. “Effects of authoritative parental control on child behavior.” Child development (1966): 887-907.

Chao, Ruth K. “Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training.” Child development 65.4 (1994): 1111-1119.

Hildyard, Kathryn L., and David A. Wolfe. “Child neglect: developmental issues and outcomes☆.” Child abuse & neglect26.6-7 (2002): 679-695.

Steinberg, Laurence, and Nancy Darling. “Parenting style as context: An integrative model.” Interpersonal Development. Routledge, 2017. 161-170.

Watson, Goodwin. “Some personality differences in children related to strict or permissive parental discipline.” The Journal of Psychology 44.1 (1957): 227-249.