Parenting Styles

In Ch. 9: Raising Children, Baumrind describes three parenting styles that consist of Authoritative, Permissive, and Authoritarian.  The authoritative parenting style consists of parents keeping control of their children by demanding things from them that may include good grades and behavior.  Although they may be very demanding of them, they still care very much about their children so they help guide them in the right direction.  The permissive parenting style consists of parents who are very caring and nurturing with their children, however, they are not very demanding.  These parents are more lenient are more likely to dismiss poor behavior from the child.  Authoritarian parenting style consists of parents being very strict and controlling with their children without allowing any communication to guide them in the right path.  They demand so much of their child without showing them any care or support.  In this parenting style it is also more likely that parents will illicit physical punishment, which is also called corporal punishment (Seccombe, p. 252) onto the child so that they listen to them.

I feel that the best parenting style is the authoritative parenting style because it shows the child that their parent cares about them and at the same time, they are being very constructive in teaching them the right things.  In this parenting style, it is more likely that a child will follow through with good behavior because they are able to communicate with their parents to learn right from wrong and would not be afraid of their parents harming them like someone with a parent in the authoritarian style.