Parenting Styles Essay

1044 Words5 Pages
Parenting styles are a combination of parental circumstances, habits, and emotional patterns that define the relationships between parent and child. This essay investigates the four main parenting styles from which questions emerge about the effectiveness of each. As we explore the possibilities of each style, please keep in mind, parenting style is meant to define normal variations and circumstances in parenting. Parenting is a complex activity that includes many specific behaviors that work individually and together to influence the outcome of child rearing. Parenting styles are very diverse and usually reflect that of one’s own life experiences. In today’s society, parenting is definitely one of the most challenging and difficult positions a person can uphold. Individuals learn parenting from many different sources including their own parents, role models, society and life experiences. As a result of such sources or examples, techniques to parenting can vary greatly from family to family. The way a family is structured is defined as the parenting style. It is assumed that the primary role of all parents is to influence, teach, and control their children within a parenting style. There are four main categories documented in literature as parenting styles: Indulgent, Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Uninvolved (Darling, 1999). The indulgent parenting style (“also referred to as permissive or nondirective”) has little to no rules for the children and is observed as the least demanding of all (Darling, 1999). These parents often resort to gift giving and even outright bribery, rather than setting boundaries and expecting obedience. The parent wants to be more of a friend than a parent. According to Dr. Phil McGraw (2009), children need boundaries and rules to learn right from wrong. “It is your job to be a parent not a friend to your child.”

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