Know About The Different Parenting Styles

The main point of discussion among young mothers in the pot-lunch party that I attended with my niece was the different parenting styles and their impact on the choices and decisions a child made in life.  

A summary of their discussion is as follows:

 
Authoritarian parenting style, the first parenting style lays down strict rules, strict expectations and is very inflexible in its approach. These parents are interested in strict obedience and are typically unresponsive and highly demanding. Their rules are never to be questioned, with them stating their expectations and consequences very clearly. Children of such parents suffer from low self-esteem, poor social skills and do moderately well in studies, with some suffering from high levels of depression. 

Permissive parenting style is the opposite of authoritarian style; these parents are highly indulgent and flexible and act more as advisors and not decision makers for their children. The children of such parents possess a high self-esteem, great sense of personal identity and good social skills; but these children could be involved in problem behavior and may do less well in schools.  

Authoritative parenting style, the third parenting style is a combination of the authoritarian and permissive; these parents set expectations, but are flexible. They have the positive aspects of both authoritarian as well as permissive; being willing to discuss and reason out with their children, they act as guiding forces for their children to make decisions. The children of  these parents are balanced both in behavior and responsiveness in educational and social structures; they are moderate in their responsiveness to levels of depression and problem behavior. 

Uninvolved parenting style, also referred to as negligent parenting in extreme cases is parenting that does not encourage or demand behavior from children, with parents being very poor in responding or initiating contact. Punishments are negligible in this parenting style; with lack of  fundamental understanding and support, making these children poor performers both socially and academically, with exhibiting poor performance in choice and decisions.

Attachment parenting style is practiced by those parents that place great importance on breastfeeding as the most natural and intense early bonding experience with the child; the other aspect is through baby-wearing and co-sleeping where the parents sleep in the same room as the child, sometimes on the same bed. This parenting though desirable could make the child too much dependent on the parents or else the parent may suffer from extreme separation anxiety when the child grows and sets a life of his/her own.  

Active parenting style is a proactive approach to parenting, with  focusing early on developing a foundation of self-esteem, confidence and responsibility and augmenting integrity, character and decision-making skills of their children. Aiming at raising one’s child different from what one was raised, it’s disadvantages is it’s being time-intensive, and guilt-motivated, with fear of missing out on next big breakthrough in raising children.

To conclude each family could have a combination of two parenting styles; a good approach would be for parents to take a cohesive approach to gain by the advantage of each other’s parenting styles.

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