What are the Different Parenting Styles?
Are you a first-time parent who is eager to learn about different parenting styles? You may be excited to find tactics to raise your child, but maybe you and your significant other have different views and beliefs on the matter.
There could be a lot of reasons why you are browsing different parenting styles. Well, you are in the right spot as we discuss the four different parenting styles. Get ready to learn and analyze them afterward, or maybe brainstorm with your partner to share both of your thoughts and structure something that both of you can agree on.
The Importance of Parenting Style
Parenting style is a combination of parents' attitudes, practices, and verbal and nonverbal expressions that describe the nature of the parent-child relationship and interaction.
Parenting styles and practices have a huge role in shaping the development of a child's competence. Studies were performed assessing parenting style effects on the educational outcome of children. It is because the area of educational achievement is one of the most affected by any parenting style.
According to psychologists, there are two main components for parenting styles. Maccoby and Martin categorized them based on the level of responsiveness you are giving to your child and the level of demand. Level of responsiveness includes warmth, acceptance and involvement. Level of demand may include control, supervision and maturity demands. The two components, including the behaviors along the way, define your parenting style.
Main Parenting Style Categories
There are four broad categories of parenting styles. There are authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and uninvolved. Let’s learn what each one means.
Authoritarian
This is when parents try to control the attitude and behavior of their children using a demanding tone to get them to project a particular personality in various settings. This style is great because it places emphasis on obedience and order, as well as respect for authority. The deficit is that it is highly demanding from the perspective of the child and some can be unresponsive. As a result, researchers say children show characteristics of having low self-esteem and are easily frightened.
Authoritative
This style is when parents create a balance between the level of responsiveness and level of demand. This is a parenting style characterized by retention of authority and control while at the same time, there is warm affection and consistent communication with the child.
This is a great style because it includes firm enforcement of the rules and behavior standards, as well as the ability to monitor manners and conduct consistently. Through the encouragement of expressing oneself, the child develops a sense of independence.
Although, with the provision of freedom for your child, there is a chance of taking advantage of it by way of rebellion. They may decide to choose the opposite of what the parents wanted. Also, this approach requires a constant professional mindset from the parents. That is, you will need to maintain your cool at all times, especially when the child persists disobedience.
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Permissive
This indulgent parenting style shows warmth and leniency. The parents try to avoid confrontation and only make few demands for mature behavior.
This allows considerable self-regulation by the child or adolescent. The lack of rules and expectations allows a degree of freedom in the child's decision making.
Despite this, it is proven to be less effective than an authoritative style in promoting a sense of competence among adolescents. Children are not seen to be mature enough to perform certain tasks. Also, this may introduce a lack of discipline and motivation that may lead to various problems, such as social competency and awareness issues.
Uninvolved
This style of parenting is considered to be a neglectful pattern where interest or support is not provided to the child. The parents could be preoccupied with their own issues and problems, relegating their parental responsibilities from the top of the priority list. This does not necessarily apply to both parents. Sometimes, due to various situations, one parent becomes uninvolved, while the other takes full responsibility for the child.
Researchers have found out that children who were raised by uninvolved and authoritarian parents easily adjusted to life away from home. The child may have been exposed to different levels of hardship and challenges at an early age. When harnessed properly, these experiences can be used as fuel for success.
Children with uninvolved parents showed the lowest level of adaptation to social skills, academic achievement and psychological adjustment. The deleterious effects of this type of parenting may build up over time.
What Parenting Style Should You Choose?
Knowing that there are four different parenting styles, there is a chance that a mother's parenting pattern will differ from that of the father's. Seeking professional advice is something to consider, especially if the difference in parenting practice is huge and, most of the time, leading to arguments. Arguing in front of your children should be avoided at all costs. They also must not be involved in the fight as this can affect them intensely.
