Parenting Styles

Parenting Styles and Their Long Term Effects

Author: Frank London

For most people parenting is a mixture of commonsense and nature. Most parents obviously care for, develop and protect their children naturally and take the good things from their own childhood and use to bring up their off-spring. But there is no right way to do this and there will be numerous situations that we may get right or wrong. Added to which all children are individual and their needs and wants vary.

This said it does help to have some kind of guide to parenting and with this in mind, below are the three most common parenting styles. Which one you choose or which combination of styles you choose, will depend on your beliefs and approach to life. As long as you and any other guardians are reading from the same story book (metaphorically speaking) you will be ok.

Authoritarian Parenting Style

This is a strict style of parenting as practised by the Victorians and sometimes considered to be too military like. Strict rules and swift punishment and a large amount of parent control. It also includes strict routines and beliefs that are enforced by the adults, a kind of parental dictatorship.

The positives to this are that the children are well behaved and understand routine and rules and have no problem following commands. The negative side is that most children from this background lack imagination and generally need order or they feel insecure and may have problems with affection and expressing themselves. This system has produced its fair share of control freaks.

Permissive Parenting Style

This is the complete opposite of the former parenting style. This style of parenting stems from the 1960’s and 70’s and encourages self expression and free thinking, with very few rules and virtually no discipline. Children brought up in this way are never punished but rather encouraged to do the right thing.

The positives from this are that the children tend to have great imaginations and have no problem showing their emotions and aren’t restricted by fixed ideas, trends or doctrine. The negatives are that they hate discipline and any kind of restrictions. They do not react well to being told what to do and consequently fight against any kind of order. This can be a problem when going to university or work in their teens.

Democratic Parenting Style

This style of parenting is a mixture of the two already mentioned. There are rules and they are enforced but the punishment is not severe and the kind of punishment tends to come as a multiple choice, where the child chooses which punishment they opt for. There is also a much more relaxed approach to the rules. As the child grows and becomes more aware they have a say in family matters and can object to some of the less important rules.

The positives are that the child will have a greater understanding of democracy and is used to thinking for themselves as well as making important decisions. They also have no problem with affection and expressing themselves. They can cope with rules and regulations and understand why they are there. The negatives are that they are more difficult to control later on than with the Authoritarian style and can lack the imagination of the permissive style.

I hope this has helped you in some way and at the very least, made parenting a bit clearer. Like I said there is no right way just very obvious wrong ways to bring up children. If you are a religious person obviously your parenting style will be influenced by the fact. Whatever your beliefs I am sure you will agree that all children need love, protection and guidance!

Parenting Styles

Parenting Styles and Their Long Term Effects

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