Parents use different parenting styles to raise their children. A parenting style is the particular way in which parents bring up their children and provide for their needs.
Every parent raises their children in different ways, and this diversity is certainly bound to create various parenting styles in the process. In any case, all parenting styles involve the conscious use of a specific approach to ensure children’s successful transition from infancy to adulthood.
What Influences Parenting Styles?
This study shows that several factors, such as culture, parental income, parental wealth, and social class, influence parenting styles. For instance, a child brought up by working-class parents would not turn out the same as a child brought up by stay-at-home parents.
Similarly, parents with less education and parents who are more informed and enlightened will each bring up their children differently. Not all parents have the same experience and training, and this affects both the parents and the children.
Parenting Styles and Their Impact on Children
Research reveals that parenting affects children directly and exposes them to scenarios that will determine the course of their growth and development. At the same time, different parenting styles have various effects on both the parents and the children, as summarized below.
Authoritative Parenting
In authoritative parenting, the parents set goals and standards for their children and utilize positive reinforcement. Discipline is minimal and behavioral expectations are clearly explained. The parent-child relationship is based on positive and nurturing communication.
Children develop discipline, high moral standards, positive mental growth, and high levels of self-esteem. Authoritative parenting is generally preferred by psychologists because of its positive impact on the growth and development of children.
Authoritarian Parenting
Authoritarian parenting, also known as disciplinarian parenting, is a parenting style that uses punishment as a primary way of instilling discipline in children. Communication is not mutual. Rather, the parents are the ones in control, and the children’s input is mostly ignored.
Authoritarian parenting often results in children who are socially withdrawn and fearful. They also have low self-esteem and poor interpersonal relationships.
Uninvolved Parenting
Uninvolved parents are generally unavailable for their children. They provide for their children’s needs but have little or no engagement with their children at all. There is minimal communication and no emotional connection. Children are left to make their own decisions without any supervision.
Children of uninvolved parens isolate themselves from others, and since their parents are always away, they feel neglected and lonely. Most uninvolved parents work far from home and only come around occasionally.
Permissive Parenting
Permissive parenting, also referred to as indulgent parenting, is a parenting style where the parents let their children have their way in almost everything. Permissive parents are the opposite of strict. They feel that the happiness of their children depends on the freedom given to them. The children are happy, but they display high levels of disorganization since they lack parental guidance.
Parenting should be performed with the utmost care since it impacts both the children and the parents. Children depend on their parents for their growth and development. It is, therefore, the parents’ responsibility to implement the best strategies and styles in order to make parenting as interesting and interactive as possible.
References
- Carter, Don, and David Welch. “Parenting Styles and Children’s Behavior.” Family Relations 30, no. 2 (1981): 191–195. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2IYuf55
- Bornstein, Marc H. “Parenting: Science and Practice.” Parenting 1, no. 1–2 (2001): 1–4. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com
