Your parenting style can affect everything from your child's weight to how she feels about herself. It's vital to ensure your parenting skills support positive growth and development because how you interact with your child and how you discipline her will influence her for the rest of her life.
Researchers identified four types of parenting styles:
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Permissive
Uninvolved
What Is Authoritarian Parenting?
Authoritarian parenting is when parents insist on complete obedience and often use negative consequences, such as physical punishment, to control their children. When children are punished, they usually get the message that they've done something wrong but are not encouraged to consider what they could do differently in the future.
Signs of Authoritarian Parenting Style:
• Asking children to do things they don't want to do
• Not allowing children to express their own desires
• Rejecting children's personal choices
• Being unrealistic, overprotective, and intrusive
• Believing that a parent will always know what is suitable for their child
• Having a lack of warmth, affection, or closeness with children
• Setting strict, rigid rules that are often unfair
• Expecting children to have the same interests and abilities as parents
• Using criticism, humiliation, shame, guilt, intimidation, and threats
• Using physical punishment and coercion
What Is Authoritative Parenting?
Authoritative parenting is when parents are both warm and firm. Parents are aware of their children's needs, making strong emotional bonds. They also encourage their children to develop their own thoughts and opinions and explore their world as long as they're safe.
Signs of Authoritative Parenting Style:
• Asking children to do things they want to do
• Allowing children to express their own desires
• Being non-judgmental, realistic, and responsive
• Giving children the freedom to make decisions
• Setting firm, consistent limits, but allowing children to make decisions within those limits
• Offering warmth, affection, and closeness
• Having a healthy respect for children's growing independence
• Listening to children's ideas, feelings, and concerns
• Modeling self-control and fairness
• Giving children opportunities to solve their own problems
What Is Permissive Parenting?
On the other hand, permissive parenting is when parents are too soft on their children and don't set clear rules or expectations. They often give in to their children's demands, and they don't put any limits. This can lead to kids who are disrespectful of their parents.
Signs of Permissive Parenting Style:
• Allowing children to do whatever they want to do
• Ignoring children's needs for closeness, trust, and respect
• Allowing children to ignore rules and limits
• Not allowing children to express their own desires
• Not listening to children's concerns, ideas, and worries
• Giving children privileges without expecting them to earn them
• Using bribery and rewards to get children to do what adults want
• Trying to prevent children from making mistakes
• Failing to set and enforce limits
• Not insisting on respect
What Is Uninvolved Parenting?
Uninvolved parenting is when parents only pay attention to their children when they need to. This means that parents are sometimes physically present but emotionally absent and don't engage with their children.
Signs of Uninvolved Parenting Style:
• Allowing children to do whatever they want to do
• Ignoring children's needs for closeness, trust, and respect
• Allowing children to ignore rules and limits
• Expecting children to be more adult than they are
• Not setting firm limits or consistent expectations
• Not spending much time with children
• Being unwilling to set or enforce limits with children
• Not using any physical punishment
• Not having any interest in children's activities
• Not giving children opportunities for decision making
Conclusion
Research about the authoritarian parenting style shows that children raised in this way tend to have minor success later in life. It appears that this is because they lack the confidence and resilience they need to navigate life independently.
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