Sheldon Headley From how your child feels about themselves, to how they interact with others, your parenting style can affect many things in their life. It’s important that your parenting style is nurturing and helps promote healthy growth and development. There are four types of parenting styles that have been identified over the years:
- Authoritarian
- Authoritative
- Permissive
- Uninvolved
Each parenting style is grouped by a number of characteristics that the parent shows and takes a different approach when raising a child.
Authoritarian
The parenting style of Authoritarian looks like:
- Unresponsive
- Strict rules
- Expects blind obedience
- High expectations
The authoritarian type parents tend to mainly focus on obedience and are not interested in negotiating. If I child raises a question around the reasoning for a rule they typically say “Because I said so”. They simply make rules and enforce them with no regards for the child’s opinion. The authoritarian type parents tend to use punishments over discipline. So, instead of teaching their child how to make the right choices, they instead make the child feel sorry for making mistakes. Children who’ve grown up with authoritarian parents will easily follow rules as they’ve always had to. But, the obedience they give doesn’t come at a price. They may become hostile or even aggressive. Because of the strict nature of authoritarian parents, their children often become good liars in the future for the sake of avoiding punishment.
Authoritative
The parenting style of Authoritative looks like:
- Clear rules
- Warm & Responsive
- High Expectation
- Supportive
- Value Independence
The authoritative type parent have their set of rules and consequences, however, they also take their child’s opinion into account. The feelings of their child are valid in all situations but they also make it clear who is in charge. The authoritative type of parent makes it a priority to prevent and problem solve behaviours before they start. In addition to that, they use positive discipline strategies to help reinforce their child’s good behaviour like reward systems. Children who are raised with authoritative discipline tend to be a lot more happier and even more successful than others. They are much better at problem-solving being able to make decisions and evaluate on their own.
Permissive
The parenting style of Permissive looks like:
- Warm & Responsive
- Few or no rules
- Lenient
- Indulgent
Permissive parents are lenient. They often only step in when there’s a serious problem. Seeing as they are very lenient, they are often quite forgiving. They have the attitude of “kids will be kids” and the use of consequences don’t often stick. They typically will give a child their privileges back if a child begs or promises for another chance to be good. The role of a permissive type parent is more comparable to that of a friend rather than a parent. Their child is encouraged to about their feelings, but aren’t discouraged in making any poor decisions or choices. They may exhibit more behavioural problems as they don’t appreciate authority and rules. They often have low self-esteem and may report a lot of sadness. The children of permissive type parents tend to exhibit behavioural problems as they don’t like authority or rules. They’re also at a higher risk for health problems, like obesity, because permissive parents struggle to limit junk food intake.
Uninvolved
The parenting style of Uninvolved looks like:
- Cold & Unresponsive
- No rules
- Uninvolved
- Indifferent
Uninvolved type parents don’t typically know anything that’s going on with their children. Although there might be some rules, children are still unlikely to receive any nurturing, guidance or even attention from their parents. It just so happens that uninvolved type parents expect their child to raise themselves. Uninvolved type parents may be unintentionally neglectful. It could be anything from lack of knowledge about child development to being overwhelmed with other problems, such as work or bills. Another reason may be the parent has mental issues and does not have the capacity to give proper time and focus to a child’s needs consistently. The children of uninvolved type parents tend to perform poorly in school and don’t have a high level of happiness.
While it is true that parenting can be hard, especially when other things come into play that might impact your ability, it is important to fully understand the parenting styles and how they could relate to your child’s development. Oftentimes, it can be hard to identify if what you are doing is right, so determining what style you are currently using, and what that means, can help you get on track to giving your child the type of support you want. If you’re looking for information on how to help your kids get a better sleep, click here.
