Parenting Styles

Introduction

Every parent has a different attitude toward his or her child, with a distinct parenting style. According to psychologists and sociologists, parenting styles exhibited by majority of the parents can be classified into three different categories. These categories include authoritative, authoritarian or democratic and permissive or liberal styles. There are many causes behind a parent adopting a particular parenting style out of three mentioned above; it may be the result of environment the parents himself or herself was brought up, his or her role model, their religious beliefs or simply the social settings in which the parents lives (Sonnek, 1999).

This essay aims at discussing the three major parenting styles, while exploring what are the causes behind a parent adopting a particular parenting style. The paper also discusses the effects each of these parenting styles has on the child.

Discussion

Importance of Parents & Family

The family is the fundamental group unit in which the members live together in close contact and interact with each other. The family is the first natural environment of education in a child's life. This is the basic form of childcare from his or her birth until the time he or she becomes independent and self reliant. This is where the child gets his first social experience of behavioral learning, standards of conduct, meets a variety of forms, patterns and orders which greatly helps in developing the child's individuality, personality and psyche. Parents and guardians are the first teachers, so they have a huge effect on future behavior of the child. They are responsible for meeting the child's needs and concerns (Darling & ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, 1999).

In a nutshell, family shapes personality of its members, in addition to shaping and influencing the aims of the family members in order to ensure that each member fills specific roles in the society, such as the roles of husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, brother or sister. The family is continuous source of flow of emotions, creating a so-called family atmosphere. The atmosphere has a huge impact on the development of child's personality. Family should fully meet the needs of its members, both physical and mental, in particular the need for love, belonging and security.

The family as a basic social group has a number of features, thus satisfying the mental, emotional and social needs of its members. Contacts with parents are a source of social experience and play a very important role in the development of personality and prepare children for leading a successful and a rewarding life in society. The most important functions are functions of the family and parental education and socio-economic functions, which are members of the family to ensure the possibility of existence (Gottman, & DeClaire, 1997).

Parenting Styles

Parenting style characteristic of the family is like a reflection of the ways and methods of influence all family members have on a child. There are, as identified in the earlier section, three parenting styles which are briefly discussed here:

Authoritative Style ...