Which Style of Parenting Is Most Effective

Parenting style is a personal matter that is determined by how a parent was raised, personality decisions, and interests. There are multiple parenting strategies, such as dominant, punitive, permissive, and ultimately neglectful or uninvolved, and they differ to suit children with different attitudes or characteristics (Calafat et al. 186). According to science, practice, and the exchange of ideas and opinions with peers, the authoritative style is the most powerful and useful to children. An authoritarian parent has strong hopes for their children and will still encourage them by encouraging freedom of speech, which will inevitably lead to independence. It helps in the creation of the healthiest environment of growth and fosters a productive parent-child relationship. Authoritative parenting enhances open communication where parents can speak to their children without reprimand or judgment.

Therefore, being an authoritative parent will enable you to have more profound insights regarding your child's life and allowing an adolescent to understand what is expected from the world around them. Such parents will retain authority and control and also become warmer and more communicative than other parents who are applying the authoritarian approach (Smetana 19). Nonetheless, it is easy to maintain a balance a parent’s desire to be listened to and the teen’s desire for independence which means that this method of parenting makes a person to be demanding accompanied by responsiveness. Again, such parents tend to be assertive as opposed to restrictive or intrusive.

Furthermore, the assertiveness of such parents enables them to avoid being sidetracked when setting limits as they can provide informed choices and a child can participate in finding a best alternative solution. Setting clear rules, warm and responsive, high expectation, supportive and value independence are the main characteristics that differentiate an authoritative parenting. The result or associated outcomes include higher academic performance, more self-esteem, better social skills, less mental illness and lower delinquency (Calafat et al. 189). Other clues to know that you are an authoritative parent include being persistence until the requests are followed, the revelation of honest feelings, giving a brief reason, and politely refusing. Moreover, the method allows a person to remain empathetic, setting of reasonable consequences, having flexible rules, making a direct and explicit request and lastly not blaming the child.

Authoritativeness promotes the achievement of a balanced approach where a parent directs and deals with a child through the use of dialogue, explanations, and reason. Henceforth, one can have young ones who are lively, self-confident, and happy together with the development of emotions and social skills. It is the most successful parenting technique that strengthens a healthy balance between nurturing and structuring. As a result, there is a rise in the child's self-esteem by encouraging them in the open communication that they are worthy of respect and ability to meet the demands or challenges of life (Smetana 23). Hence, during adolescence, a teen can tolerate frustrations and solve problems appropriately encountered from the immediate environment without portraying aggressive behavior.

Since the approach builds a healthy parent-child relationship, teens can realize that parents play significant roles in helping them to understand the struggles as well as provision of guidance and support. Henceforth, one will always seek direction on the step forward from the parent or guardian in the future issues either as a teen, youth, adult or father or mother (Martínez et al. 743). Therefore, authoritative style enables children to know what the parents and the society expect from them and have a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind different rules and limits set by progenitor. Furthermore, they can feel and experience that boundaries established are for their own good which assists them to grow to maturity without being aggressive or engaging in violent activities.

Many scholars argue that authoritative parenting is the best way to raise kids to allow an emphasis on reasoning, sensitivity, being emotionally responsive and setting limits (Martínez et al. 741). Despite the fact that the method is common among the educated and middle-class families, it has always yielded superior child outcomes across the world. It is the best approach as capitalizes on positive elements of authoritarian and permissive styles and it implies that retain best results and characteristics while at the same time transforming the worst into positives for the betterment of their kids (Calafat et al. 190). Therefore, a combination of higher levels of demanding and responsiveness can yield a syncretism coalition concerning beneficial components of the opposing dualities.

From the four dimensions proposed by Baumrind the founder of the authoritative parenting style that involves control, communication, maturity demands, and nurturance, it is evident that the approach enhances consistency in enforcing directives, willingness to exert influence and ability to resist pressure (Martínez et al. 737). However, it is essential for parents to be flexible basing on the personal goals and a child’s unique behaviors.

Several benefits exist for children that have authoritative parents. They include seeing a parent as the source of support, having senses of safety resulting from the existing rules, feeling lovable and listen to as well as understood and worthy of being care for in the childhood and when they are adolescents. There is also the development of a basic feeling of trust in the relationships and have happier dispositions, self-confident, good emotional control and regulation together with best social skills. Kids that come from the authoritative families seem to be well-behaved and also become successful in their academic and career achievement (Smetana 24). It is a technique that is applicable in different cultures to attain better child outcomes. Additionally, it allows a kid to explore more freely and eventually have the ability to make personal decisions basing on their reasoning.

Authoritative parenting has a significant impact on the children as they are less likely to complain about issues such as depression and anxiety and they cannot engage in the delinquent behavior or substance abuse. Some of the outcomes from adopting such technique when nurturing a child may include but not limited to being independent, socially acceptable, well-behaved, self-reliant and academically successful (Martínez et al. 734). The support and warmth strengthen the bond between a child and a parent which will ensure that a teen maintains moral reasoning in every step they take throughout their life.

Therefore, when one chooses this parenting style should remain mindful of personal actions as you aim at developing the desired habits. Thus, parents should aim at maintaining a balance between emotional controls, discipline and allowing independence. One should not be too lenient or too harsh. Mothers and fathers will always have positive effects on the children behavior together with the school achievement. Instead of having a rigid environment where one cannot deviate from the house rules, authoritative parenting enhances flexibility in the rearing process. It is easy to overcome aggression and depression, anxiety, depression, and internalization of the challenging the problems. Hence, authoritativeness has been argued by psychologists to nurture a balanced individual with the most favorable features, characteristics, and traits of personality. It fosters assertiveness, maturity, and responsibility. When parents are empathetic, show love and responsive, children can internalize such factors into a healthy self-subject.

Works Cited

Calafat A, García F, Juan M, Becoña E, Fernández-Hermida JR. “Which parenting style is more

protective against adolescent substance use?” Evidence within the European context. Drug Alcohol Depend, 138, 2014, pp.185-92.

Martínez I, García JF, and Yubero S. “Parenting styles and adolescents' self-esteem in Brazil”. Psychology Rep, vol. 100, no. 3, 2007, pp.731-45.

Smetana, J.G. (2017). Current research on parenting styles, dimensions, and beliefs. Current Opinion in Psychology, 15, 2017, pp. 19-25.