Parenting In Raising Children

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” –Frederick Douglass

Why is Parenting important in a child’s life?

Parenting promotes the child’s mental, linguistic and emotional development. It helps the child exhibit optimistic and confident social behaviours. Healthy parent involvement and intervention in the child’s day-to-day life lay the foundation for better social and academic skills

Are the lives of children and their personalities an affect of parenting?

Not entirely but yes, parenting influences a number of outcomes for children, including behavior problems, mood difficulties, and academic success. However, it is seen that parenting characterized by warmth, nurturance, and limit setting is helpful in promoting positive outcomes for youth.

Each parent tends to have a different approach while raising their kids. Why do you think is it so?

It is all about Parenting Styles. A parenting style is a psychological construct representing standard strategies that parents use in their child rearing. Your parenting style can affect everything from how much your child weighs to how she feels about herself. It’s important to ensure your parenting style is supporting healthy growth and development because the way you interact with your child and how you discipline her will influence her for the rest of her life.

Researchers have identified four types of parenting styles

• Authoritarian
• Authoritative
• Permissive
• Uninvolved

Authoritarian

Authoritarian parents believe kids should follow the rules without exception. Tthey make the rules and enforce the consequences with little regard for a child’s opinion. They use punishments instead of discipline. So rather than teach a child how to make better choices, they’re invested in making kids feel sorry for their mistakes.

Children who grow up with strict authoritarian parents tend to follow rules much of the time. But, their obedience comes at a price. Children of authoritarian parents are at a higher risk of developing self-esteem problems because their opinions aren’t valued.They may also become hostile or aggressive. Rather than think about how to do things better in the future, they often focus on the anger they feel toward their parents. Since authoritarian parents are often strict, their children may grow to become good liars in an effort to avoid punishment.

Authoritative Parenting

Authoritative parents have rules and they use consequences, but they also take their children’s opinions into account. They validate their children’s feelings, while also making it clear that the adults are ultimately in charge. Authoritative parents invest time and energy into preventing behavior problems before they start. They also use positive discipline strategies to reinforce good behavior, like praise and reward systems.

Children raised with authoritative discipline tend to be happy and successful. They’re also more likely to be good at making decisions and evaluating safety risks on their own.

Permissive Parenting

Permissive parents are lenient. They often only step in when there’s a serious problem. They’re quite forgiving and they adopt an attitude of “kids will be kids.” When they do use consequences, they may not make those consequences stick. They might give privileges back if a child begs or they may allow a child to get out of time-out early if he promises to be good.

Permissive parents usually take on more of a friend role than a parent role. They often encourage their children to talk with them about their problems, but they usually don’t put much effort into discouraging poor choices or bad behavior.

Kids who grow up with permissive parents are more likely to struggle academically. They may exhibit more behavioral problems as they don’t appreciate authority and rules. They often have low self-esteem and may report a lot of sadness.

They’re also at a higher risk for health problems, like obesity, because permissive parents struggle to limit junk food intake. They are even more likely to have dental cavities because permissive parents often don’t enforce good habits, like ensuring a child brushes his teeth.

Uninvolved Parenting

Uninvolved parents tend to have little knowledge of what their children are doing.

There tend to be few rules. Children may not receive much guidance, nurturing, and parental attention. Uninvolved parents expect children to raise themselves. They don’t devote much time or energy into meeting children’s basic needs. Uninvolved parents may be neglectful but it’s not always intentional. A parent with mental health issues or substance abuse problems, for example, may not be able to care for a child’s physical or emotional needs on a consistent basis.

At other times, uninvolved parents lack knowledge about child development. And sometimes, they’re simply overwhelmed with other problems, like work, paying bills, and managing a household.

Children with uninvolved parents are likely to struggle with self-esteem issues. They tend to perform poorly in school. They also exhibit frequent behavior problems and rank low in happiness.

So what’s the take away when it comes to parenting styles?

Parenting styles are associated with different child outcomes and the authoritative style is generally linked to positive behaviors such as strong self-esteem and self-competence. However, other important factors including culture, children’s perceptions of parental treatment, and social influences also play an important role in children’s behavior.