Parenting styles are styles that help discipline children, parents use many different styles/theories to discipline their kids. 

Baumrind describes different methods to parent: Authoritarian and Permissive. Authoritarian, this directs control over the child. It encourages freedom and uses positive reinforcement to obtain obedience from the child. The parents only use punishment when is necessary. Permissive style, this style does not typically use punishment on the child. The children discipline under this style are most likely given a couple of rules to follow. Also, they are most likely not be always under the control of the parents. I truly think that these two styles are very important to discipline the kids. 


The picture shows how the mother is talking to her daughter in a very mannered way/style. 

Kramer vs Kramer movie

The Role Theory states that people invest time and energy to fulfilling multiple work and family responsibilities and these responsibilties affect the individual's health outcomes. Role Theory has three different components which are Role Conflict, Role Enrichment and Role Context. The hollywood movie Kramer vs Kramer examplifies how work-family duties can play out in an individual's everyday life and these daily activities can affect health. To best describe how this movie relates to the Role Theory, I will discuss scenes in the movie based on the Role Conflict component. There was more of Role Conflict in Kramer vs Kramer when dad struggled with being on time to his conference meetings at work because he had to buy groceries for his house. So doing household chores and keeping up with the demands of his job conflicted because of the time demand. There was also Role Conflict when dad experienced a shift in his responsibilities in the household. After his wife left him, he had to cook and prepare meals for his child and himself; and this consumed the time he usually used to work on his projects and prepare presentations for corporate conference meetings.

Another scene that showed Role Conflict from a different approach was when his wife returned to New York to claim custody of Billy, their son. While in the restaurant, she brought it to his attention that she loved her son and she thought their son would be better off with her. He reprimanded her for being out of Billy's life for 18 months and dismissed her claim of loving their son. Bottomline is that Role Conflict was shown because both parents fought for who should have full custody of the child.

Kramer vs Kramer - the movie

Role Theory describes the family- work concept as each individual's time and efforts attributed to different roles at work and in their families and how each role affects the outcome of another role. There are three sub cultures to Role Theory. The first is role conflict.  This is when one role may cause a strain in another role.  An example of this in the movie was when Kramer's son called him at work.  Kramer's role as a father was encroaching on his career role because this phone call was showing that Kramer's full attention was not on his work like it had been for the last five years.  The second sub culture is role enrichment. Role enrichments are the benefits that come from doing all the roles in one's life.  An example of this is when Kramer is fixing breakfast. Even though he is doing things wrong he is still using those quick thinking skills from work to explain to his son that this "Daddy's special French  toast" instead of admitting he did it wrong. The third sub culture is role context.  Role context advises that one evaluates the stress of their roles and how it effects one's own health. An example of this happened when Kramer's work made him late to picking up his son from a birthday party and he saw how upset his son was. At this time Kramer thought about how his roles were weighing on him. Later on in the movie, Kramer makes sure to leave the office on time and it shows him taking his time dropping his son off at school.  Kramer evaluated his role conflicts and adjusted to what better suited to his needs.  

Parenting Styles

Parenting styles are strategies and actions used by parents when rearing their children. There are multiple theories that describe different strategies that can be used. Baumrind describes three different methods to parent: Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Permissive. Authoritarian is a style that exercises direct control over the child. These parents use discipline to obtain obedience from the child. Authoritative style encourages freedom and uses positive reinforcement to obtain obedience from the child. These parents only use punishment when necessary. Permissive style does not typically use punishment on the child. Children are usually given few rules and are under little control of their parents. Baumrind’s styles describe the importance of parenting choices regarding control over the child’s behavior. Kohn describes parenting styles that identify characteristics that the parents are looking for in the child. Parents who desire their child to develop skills of self-control, critical thinking and reasoning, and curiosity value self-direction. Conformity is typically desired by working-class people and is desired by parents who desire their child to work as part of a group, develop a routine, and work under supervision.

Lareau suggests that social class will influence the way that parents interact with their children. Concerted cultivation aims to foster their child’s talents and abilities. This can be done by incorporating organized activities into their children’s lives. These children will have increased social experiences with adults and may develop better communication and academic skills. They will grow up prepared to excel in a structured environment. Parents in the middle and upper classes typically carry out the concerted cultivation approach. Natural growth is not as structured as the concerted cultivation approach. Children in the natural growth method will typically have more free time and have the ability to choose their own activities. This may be due to the lack of availability of parental time to provide structured activities for the child.

The style that I favor the most is the authoritative parenting style. This style allows the child to make decisions and encourages individual development while also employing necessary structure and reinforcement to maintain adequate control over the child. This is the method that my parents employed and I believe that it was very effective. I chose this photo to illustrate the importance of providing structure and encouraging childhood development.  

Kohn used conformity and self-direction in his parenting style. Laureau focused on concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation was used to foster and assess children's intersts and abilities, and accomplishment of natural growth includes food, shelter, but the child's development comes spontaneously. Baumrind used his levels of parenting with authoritarian, permissive, neglectful, and authoritative parenting styles.

I feel that Baumrind's style is the clearest and most effective in explaing parenting styles. THe authoritarian parent demands obedience and most commonly uses physical discipline. The child is most likely scared of the parent and does not feel comfortable to approach them when they need them. The authoritative parent encouranges freedom and autonomy while still having control of the child. They use positive reinforcement, and still maintain rules and regulations. The permissive parent allows their child to do whatever they want and has little no control over what their child does. They do not have any rules or regulations for the child and does not discipline them. Out of the three, I believe that the authoritative parenting style is the most effective because they still let their child develop and have their own identity, while still having rules and regulations.

Authoritative parenting style

This is an example of the Authoritative Parenting Style. The reason why I believe this is an example of the Authoritative Parenting Style is because, both parents have a high level of control if their child and in the picture they are explaining to her what she did wrong. Authoritative Parenting Style is defined as demanding and maintains high level of control over the children, but is also warm and receptive.  Even though the child may not like the punishment or what she is being told her parents still are telling her what is right and wrong.  Both Parents looks flexible, caring, and responsive. They are not screaming at the child, but they are still holding her accountable for her actions. If  the parents did not hold their child accountable for her actions and were lenient they would have been the permissive parenting style and the child would have never understood right from wrong.

Parenting Styles

"A child should be raised this way or that way." Well this is only an opinion that parents develop as a result of their childhood experience. Culture and individual values both have influence on the methods parents adopt to raise their own children. In some parent(s), culture, compared to personal values may have more influence over their parenting styles, where as in other parents it may be vice versa.
Furthermore on this subject, I am going to pin point my preferred parenting styles that are components of the theories developed by Kohn(1977), Baumrind(1991) and Lareau (2003) by describing, comparing and contrasting the different components of choice.

Self-direction (Kohn 1977) is a division in Kohn's parenting style that "stresses child's motives and development of self-control, consideration, reasoning, curiosity, initiative conformity." This is a parenting style where the parents give particular importance to the child's passion, what the child loves to do best and what the child is very good at doing. After the parents assess and discover what motivates the child, they then use their influence as parents to lay the foundation that will guide the behavior of the child towards the child's passion. The parents lay the foundation by teaching the child the ways to develop discipline and self-control to stay focused and avoid problems such as deliquency, which may alter the child's potential for a successful future. The parents also instil other crucial values in their children through stimulating the childs curiosity.

In this kind of parenting style, the child has a good sense of freedom to structure and develop their own character because the parents usually do not force their individual preferences on the child. These children are more likely to have high self-esteem and confidence. Totally controlling the child is not healthy because it may eliminate the child's ability to express their own individual values when they become adults and will cause them to fear authority. This is my favorite of all the parenting styles because it teaches children bravery, self-control, discipline, excellent work ethic and appreciation for others. Parents of such children are usually community oriented individuals who want their children to pick up on those values where the well-being of the community is vital to person's success.

I also like the Authoritative parenting style (Baumrind 1991), because it complements the Self-Direction parenting style. In the Authoritative style, the parent lets the child express themselves even it means objecting to their parents' authority and actions. Even though the child knows that they have this privilege, they know not to do so in an irrational manner. The child clearly knows his/her boundaries and honors the parents as the authoritative figure. They also learn not to interact with or address their parents in the same way they would with friends. Such parents are usually open and friendly with their children, may watch cartoons with the child, and these qualities are few among others that enables a child to engage in high quality communication with their parents.

My third choice is Annette Lareau's Concerted Cultivation parenting style (2003). This parenting style is concerned with the proper emotional and spiritual development of the child which the child will attain through careers, personal life goals and hobbies. Therefore, parents of these children want the best for child and they want the children to have a sense of purpose and the parents empower the child to fulfil them. The parents of these children also teach them that they have to question authority and societal functions. The main point of this parenting style is to cultivate the child's sense of purpose and build the child's sense of freedom and confidence. Children who discover and follow their passion, later become confident adults who have a good sense of freedom, compared to children who don't because those who don't may end up in a career or job they absolutely hate and feel trapped to keep the job to make ends meet.

Comparing and Contrasting parenting styles

I will be describing, comparing, and contrasting parenting styles from Baumrind, Lareau, and Kohn. 
Baumrind's parenting style is composed of three sub parenting styles : authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian. The authoritative style is when parents are demanding and have high control over their children, however are still caring and receptive. The permissive style is when a parent is nurturing, caring, and responsive but is also quite lenient. The last part of baumrinds parenting style is authoritarian, in this style parents are strict, punitive, less communicative  and offer less warmth. Baumrind's style elicits important sides of parenting and parenting choices.
Kohns style of parenting is different in the way that it reflects the traits that parents desire or look for in a child, more specifically the lower class tends to search for traits that would be valued in the working sector of society such as conformity, stying out of trouble, and being organized. Whereas the higher class look for traits such as independence, creativity, and curiosity.
This ties into Lareau's parenting style that describes how social class and how its values effect the way one is raised. For example, tend to be more controlling authoritarian seeking hard working trait from their children. This is a perfect example of how Lareau's style is the middle man of the other two, it combines both in the way that it is both similar and different and that is why I favor this style, its much more flexible to different familial situations.

Parenting Styles

I will be describing, comparing, and contrasting parenting styles from Baumrind, Lareau, and Kohn. Baumrind came up with a typology widely used today from observations. From these observations, Baumrind came up with 3 parenting styles: Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Permissive. Each style relates to parent interaction, form of punishment, and outcomes in children based of raising style. Baumrind's styles are used to explain Laureau and Kohn's styles. Baumrind's styles reflect the types of parenting style that Laureau and Kohn use to explain their theories. Lareau focuses more on social class and it's effect On values, norms, and expectations of parents for their children. Lareau explains how low income families are likelier to have less participation in children activities and extra curricular participation because of lack of money, yet these activities are important for academic achievement. Similar to Lareau, Kohn believes class takes a big role in parenting children. Unlike the other two though, Kohn relates the traits parents value most with the parents world of work. This style states that the characteristics parents will value reflect the characteristics they believe are needed for the work they're expected to be in in the future, thus related to social class. It's a matter of Conformity vs self direction. Kohn believes lower class families would attribute Baumrinds authoritative style versus higher class's use of permissive parenting most often than not. From these three, I like Baumrinds parenting styles because they are reflected from observations. Though they are limited in the sense that they don't take everything into consideration such as class, race or gender, they summarize three of the most common parenting styles.

Kohn’s parenting styles are conformity and self-direction. Conformity is a strict and supervised way of parenting. Self-direction is demanding development and the child’s motives.

Baumrind has three types of parenting styles: authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian. Authoritative style is understanding and flexible but also demands respect and obedience from the child. Permissive style demands no obedience and little interaction with the child. Authoritarian style demands complete control over the child and uses corporal punishment to express authority.

Lareau’s parenting style is concerted cultivation and Accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation fosters and assesses children’s interests and abilities. Accomplishment of natural growth style is more independent and rely less on their parents.

Out of all the parenting styles, I prefer Baurimand’s Authoritative parenting style. The parents have a higher degree of acceptance and communication with their children and still maintain a level of discipline with their children.

Parenting Styles

Kohn’s parenting styles believe in self-direction versus conformity parenting style. Conformity style favors working class occupations. Self-direction style focuses on the child’s motives and allows a child to development on their. Baumrind’s parenting styles consist of three parenting styles: authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. Just like Kohn’s conformity style, the authoritarian style show parents being strict and punishing the child to control them. Permissive style express that the child has freedom with little rules. Lastly, authoritative style encourages freedom for which the parents are in control for their children. Lareau’s parenting styles consist of two parenting styles: concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation allows the children to show interests and is able to develop on their own. Also, accomplishment of natural growth is when parents provide food and shelter, yet the child’s development comes naturally, just like Kohn’s parenting style of self-direction. I favor Baumrind’s parenting styles because a child should be encouraged to experience on their own, but a parent should be there to guide the child and when it is appropriate, a punishment should be given.

Parenting Styles

I will be comparing two of Baumrind's paretning styles; Permissive and Authoritative.

The Permissive Style of parenting focuses on autonomy and freedom to express as well as downplay conformity. In this style there are few regulations and rules. A problem with this style is control is often lacking in situations with conflict. This picture below shows a parent who seems to have lost control over her child.

The Authoritative Style of parenting also encourages autonomy and tends to avoid punishment similarly to the permissive Style. This style focuses on positive reinforcement and while punishment is lacking, the difference between these two styles of parenting is in the latter style, parents have control over their children unlike in the first style mentioned. The picture below shows a similar situation as the picture above, except in this photo the mother has control over the situation.

Parenting Styles

Kohn’s parenting styles include self-direction versus conformity. Conformity parenting is when parents have strict supervision and self-direction helps to motivate children and help children develop important components of life such as consideration and reasoning.

Baumrinds parenting style is made up of three different styles, authoritative, permissive and authoritarian. Authoritative parenting style is a parent that has high levels of control over their children, yet they are also very warm and loving. They want their children to succeed and help guide in doing so. Permissive parenting style are usually parents who are very caring to their children but they also let their children get away with a lot of things. They have very little control over their children. Authoritarian parenting styles is where parents are very strict, and are not warm to their children. They expect a lot from their kids and expect nothing but the best.

Lareau parenting styles is made up of two different components: concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation is where parents help exemplify their child’s interests and abilities. Accomplishment is where the parents let their children naturally develop their basic needs.

Baumrind’s parenting style differs from the other two because it is directly how they treat the child. A parent may have one of Baumrinds parenting styles mixed in with one of the other parenting styles as well.

The parenting style I favor most would be Baumrinds parenting style because it seems to fit most models of parents or possibly mix some of the styles together. But this is something that is easily seen to others from the outside and is easy to identify. I believe that most parents can identify themselves with one of the Baumrind’s parenting styles. 

Parenting Styles

Three unique divisions of parenting styles by three different theorists, Kohn, Lareau, and Baumrind, were discussed in class. Kohn’s division of parenting styles is composed of self-direction versus conformity. Parents who practice conformity have working class occupations and prefer routine, strict supervision of their children and coordinated group or team action. Parents who practice self-direction stress the child’s motives and development of self-control, consideration, reasoning, curiosity, and initiative conformity. Lareau’s division of parenting styles consists of concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation is the belief in and act of fostering and assessing children’s interests and abilities. Accomplishment of natural growth is the belief in providing food and shelter only because development comes spontaneously. Baumrind’s division of parenting styles is comprised of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative styles. Authoritarian style is when parents demand absolute obedience from their children and often use punishment to control their children’s behavior. Permissive style is when parents encourage autonomy in their children, give them the freedom to express and downplay conformity, impose few rules and regulations on their children, and have little control over them. Authoritative style is a style in which parents encourage freedom and autonomy in their children, rely on positive reinforcement towards their children, avoid punishing their children as much as possible, and are in control of their children. Baumrind’s types of parenting styles are related to the cohesion of the parents and the intellectual orientation, organization, and achievement of the children. I favor Baumrind’s division of parenting styles the most for a few reasons. The first reason is that it involves three types of parenting styles rather than two examples which shows that there is a middle ground between two extreme and opposing styles. Second, Baumrind’s examples are more detailed and focus on the roles both parents and children play and the interaction of these roles in child development. Finally, I find Baumrind’s illustrations of parenting styles to be closer in line with the realities that I have observed and experienced in my own family and the families of my peers. Baumrind’s division of parenting styles with its unique and descriptive examples paints a more accurate and precise picture of parenting styles for both parents and children in the institution of the family.

Parenting Styles

In Kohn's theory, parent's can follow two parenting styles: Conformity and Self Direction.  Parents who used the Conformity style valued supervision and rules.  On the other hand, parents who used Self Direction focused more on development of child's motives and curiosity.  Kohn's Conformity style is more prevalent with working class parents, while the Self Direction style is more prevalent with higher class parents.

Baumrind's theory combines three styles called Authoritative, Permissive, and Authoritarian. Authoritative parents simultaneously use control and compassion with their children. Parents who are Permissive are less controlling, focusing more on the caring, nurturing aspect of parenting.  Lastly, Authoritarian parents focus most on control, leaving out many of the supportive characteristics of the other types.

The last theory is from Laurea who believes in Concerted Cultivation and Accomplishment of Natural Growth. Parents who use Concerted Cultivation plan out activities for their children in order to help their children's interests grow. On the other hand, parents who utilize the Accomplishment of Natural Growth allow their children more freedom to keep themselves busy without parent's planning.

When I compare these types, it appears that Kohn's Conformity style links with Baumrind's Authoritarian style because they both focus on rules and control. Laurea's theory is different from the rest because it focuses more on activities than discipline and nurturing techniques.

I agree most with the Authoritative theory because I feel that children need control AND compassion. For me, I see this style being especially important in the teen years (as shown in picture) when children need boundaries, but also the confidence to talk to their parents. If these are off-balance, the child-parent relationship will be more difficult.

Parenting Styles

Baumrind's parenting style consisted of three general styles: authoritative parenting style, permissive parenting style and authoritarian parenting style. The authoritaive parenting style consists of demanding parents that maintain high levels of control over their children, but they are also warm and receptive. The permissive parenting style consists of parents who are very nurturing, caring, and responsive to their children, but they are quite lenient. The authoritarian parenting style consists of strict, punitive, less communitive and offer less warmth and support.
Kohn suggests that parenting styles for lower-income and higher-income parents differ. Lower-income parents tend to emphasize conformity and related traits. Higher-income parents emphasize self-direction and creativity.
Lareau suggests that social class differences influence the way parents interact with their children. For instance lower-class families engage in fewer organized activities and were far more likely to spend their free time with their family and neighborhood friends. Middle-class parents enrolled their children in organized activities.
Contrast:
The three parenting styles focus on different aspects of child rearing. Baumrind's focuses on the way parents discipline their children as a whole. Kohn focused on the way parents raise theri children to fulfill their perspective social roles in life. Lareau focused on the way parents interact with their children and how much they expose them to other social settings.
Compare:
A comparision would be that all three focus on the parenting styles and how it influences the child's attitude and behavior.
**I personally favor Baumrind's parenting style since it has a medium ground. This theory is not so binary like the other two. It offers an insight on how balance while raising your child is key. Suggesting that there are times where u have to be lenient but also times where u have to be strict but always showing love and care.

Parenting Styles

Baumrind identified three styles of parenting; authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian.  Kohn focused on conformity and self-direction.  Lareau highlighted concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth.

Kohn and Lareau demonstrated the correlation between social class and parenting styles.  Kohn focused on how the world of the parents affected the traits they tried to install in their children; children were brought up in a way to learn the traits their parents thought to be most important.  In comparison, Lareau showed how parenting styles differed depending on whether they were middle, working, or lower class.

Baumrind essentially created a spectrum for parenting styles:

• little control over children/too much freedom: permissive
• balance of control & freedom: authoritative- the most desirable type of parenting stye
• extreme control over children/lack of freedom: authoritarian

I agree with the typology created when Baumrind identified three styles of parenting, because I have seen families that perfectly represent each typology.  Although I do acknowledge social class plays a part in a parent's style of raising their child, I have to agree with Baumrind in that most parents can fit in either of the three categories. 

Parenting Styles

Baumrind's parenting style includes three core styles authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. In the authoritarian style parents are obedience and status-oriented expecting their orders to be obeyed without explanation. These parents use punishment and fail to give reasons. Permissive style has the parents more as a friend than a parent who rarely disciplines and over indulges their children. They are nontraditional and lenient, do not require mature behavior, allow considerable self-regulation, and avoid confrontation. The last style is authoritative which offers a balance of the previous styles. These parents are assertive, establishing rules and guidelines that their children are expected to follow. When children fail to meet the expectations, these parents are more nurturing and forgiving rather than punishing. They want their child to be assertive as well as socially responsible, and self-regulated as well as cooperative.


Kohn's parenting style consist of two core styles, conformity and self direction. With conformity the children are under strict supervision and follows a more set routine. Self direction on the other hand is more lax stressing the child’s motives and development of self-control, consideration, reasoning, curiosity, initiative conformity.


Lareau's parenting style has two core styles, concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation allows children to foster their interest and abilities. Accomplishment of natural growth the parents provide the basic necessities such as food and shelter while the child's development happens spontaneously.


The style I agree with is Baumrind's style of parenting. Compared with the other two it has one more core style. Kohn's style of parenting can be found within Baumrind's, authoritarian is similar to conformity and permissive is like self direction. As for Lareau the authoritative and permissive styles of Baumrind incorporates to some degree concerted cultivation. Baumrind incorporates the other styles as well as giving more parenting styles with in-depth explanations.

Parenting Styles

Kohn's parenting styles explains how parents of the working class more than often rely on a conformity parenting style because it resembles that of their workplace environment. Kohn's second parenting style, self- direction, dresses how a parent allows a child to develop at their own pace. Baumrid's parenting theory consist of three parenting steles. The authoritarian style, like Kohn's conformity style, suggest that the parents are very strict, however, it differs in the sense that in the authoritarian style the is punishment to control the child's behavior. Baumrid's permissive style suggest that the child has complete freedom with no rules or punishment. Lastly the authoritative parenting style allows a parents to have consul of their kids by having a balance between the freedom that the is given to the child and the punishment the kid receives when he misbehaves, however the punishment is very minimal. Lareau's parenting styles is composed of two parenting styles. Concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation allows the child to show their interest and abilities where as accomplishment natural growth suggest that parents shelter and food for their child but do not take part i their development and just it the development come naturally at its own pace, much like Kohn's self direction theory.

I personally prefer Baumrind's Authoritative parenting style. Being a parent myself this is the method that i more than likely find myself using. I encourage my daughter to be independent and give her the freedom to engage in things that interest her. Although i do punish her from time to time i try to avoid it as much as passive, like Baumrid's parenting theory suggest.

Parenting Styles

Kohn's Parenting Style uses a self-direction versus conformity parenting style. The two styles deals with conformity and self-direction. Conformity style is when the parent lives a lifestyle that is repetitive. Self-direction style is focuses on disciplining the children and it affects how the children develop.

Baumrind's parenting style has styles of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. Authoritarian style is when the parent demands obedience and uses punishment to control the children's behavior. Permissive is when the parent sets few rules and regulations, when there is a conflict the parent has little control over the situation. Authoritative encourages freedom and autonomy and relies on positive reinforcement.

Lareau's parenting style uses concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth. Concerted cultivation is when the parents foster and assess children’s interests and abilities. Accomplishment of natural growth provides the basic needs such as food and shelter for the child and the child's development comes spontaneously.


The style of parenting that I agree with the most has to be Baumrind's parenting styles. I like the Authoritative one the best. It is good to give the children positive reinforcement and have little to no punishment at all.