Parenting Styles: What Are They and Why Do They Matter?

Many parents try their best to discipline their children; however, even with the best intentions, they may not realize how certain types of parenting styles can have negative impacts on their children. While there is no manual on how to raise children in the most ideal way, parents can benefit themselves and their children by learning more about parenting skills. It is important for parents to first recognize what kind of parenting style they tend to engage in and understand the impact it has on their children. The four common types of parenting styles consist of authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful parenting. Authoritative parents are supportive, accepting, and maintain reasonable control. Authoritarian parents are demanding and have strict rules. Permissive parents do not put any emphasis on discipline. Neglectful parents are neither affectionate nor controlling (Boveja, 1998). Each of these different parenting styles leads to different kinds of effects on a child.

Children of authoritative parents tend to be happy, confident, responsible, and have good social skills. Those of authoritative parents tend to be well behaved, but may lack good communication and social skills and tend to be moody and anxious. Children of permissive parents tend to be easily frustrated, demanding, and may lack social skills. Children of neglectful parents tend to appear rude, clingy, and get into trouble more frequently (Riggio, 2014). Authoritative parenting has been found to be the healthiest type in which parents set boundaries and enforce consequences with their children, but in a supportive manner. They also remain engaged with their children and allow them to be more independent as their children mature. Many South Asian children learn at an early age that doing well in school is important and is often times set as an expectation from their parents. It is important for parents to realize that the way in which they discipline and interact with their child has an impact on their child’s academic achievement. Several different studies have shown that children of authoritative parents tend to have higher grades in school, do academically well overall, have higher self-esteem, and tend to be good leaders.

Parents have many expectations for their children to do well and to grow up to be happy, healthy, and successful individuals. It is importance to recognize that the way in which they parent their child plays a significant role in many aspects of their child’s life.  If you would like to find out what your parenting style is please feel free to take the quiz on the link provided below. 

Parenting Style Quiz:

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/quizzes/l/bl_prnt_style.htm

Author: Nisha Khan (nkhan1@tiger.brenau.edu)

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