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.