Authoritarian, Authoritative & Permissive. What’s Your Parenting Style?
Every parent helps shape part of their child’s life. The parenting style you choose is how you determine what your child might be like when he or she gets older. According to Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist found that parents base how to raise their child on four important areas: Expressions or warmth, Strategies for discipline, Communication, and Expectations for maturity. There are three major types of parenting styles that researches focus on. Those three styles of parenting are Authoritarian parenting, Permissive parenting, and Authoritative parenting; all used to shape each and every child’s life into an adult. All parents make decisions for their children that may be stricter or more indulgent on occasion.
Authoritarian: An approach to child rearing that is charcterized by high behavioral standards, strict punishment of misconduct, and little communication.
- Authoritarian parents are strict, unbending and inflexible.
- They try to control every aspect of their child’s life; not allowing child to make own choices.
- Expect child to obey without question.
- Use harsh discipline methods and don’t care much about a child’s emotional needs.
Authoritative: An approach to child rearing in which the parents set limits but listen to the child and are flexible.
- Authoritative parents are firm, loving and kind.
- They set rules and expect their child to do the right thing.
- They have a good balance between not being too strict but not being too leniate, as well.
- Allow child to make age-appropriate decisions, encouraging to be responsible.
- Responds to every needs of the child, but not give into every desire.
- They give child reasons for rules, allow natural punishment to take place as long no harm comes to the child.
Permissive: An approach to child rearing that is charcterized by high nurturance and communication but little discipline, guidance, or control.
- Permissive parents try not to be involved in their child’s choices.
- No rules! No consequences!
- They might be the cause to their child’s unhappiness, harm, and hurt feelings.
- Usually, kind and loving, but get frustrated when child makes unacceptable decisions.
- Do not try to change child’s behavior.
- Teens and young adults develop no self control.
Culled from Cafemom.