What are parenting styles? Parenting style can be very simply defined as how a person parents. Parents are sometimes troubled by the fear that their style of parenting may have negative effects on their children. However, research has consistently shown that there is a broad range of acceptable parenting styles from highly structure to permissive. There are four parental styles but I will only be discussing three types. The three types are authoritative, permissive and neglectful.
The first parental style that I will discuss is authoritative. An authoritative parent is broadly defined as one who exercises warmth and firmness towards the child, and who also reacts rationally to the needs of the child. Responsiveness, demandingness, control, and involvement are essential factors in this parental style.
Responsiveness is the degree in which a parent reacts to the child in an appropriate manner that fits the situation. Also, in this situation, the parent is responding to the child's need for help without being too indulgent and giving them the answers or refusing to help at all.
Demandingness is crucial to the authoritative parenting style. These parents have high expectations for their children. Demandingness is important to the success of the child because if a parent is responsive but not demanding the child is not as likely to succeed in school.
Control is another factor for authoritative parenting. The important aspect about the degree of control is moderations, so not to be too dominating of a parent. Children who have high behavioral control from parents will exercise self-control and discipline. However, on the subject of academic achievement, moderate control is best to allow the child to succeed in the subject on their own.
Involvement is an important part of parenthood that overlaps with control in some ways. A parent needs to exercise moderation and should know how much involvement they should have in the child's life.
