Parenting Styles

THE previous post prompted Dad to recall the four parenting styles he learned about while enrolled in Honors Psychology. This graph sum them up.

You can view a bigger picture at the link.
http://naylandpsych.weebly.com/parenting-styles.html





The authoritative style, of course, is the one involved and informed parents usually strive for. Often this style is confused by its adjacent style, authoritarian. But they are distinct. The authoritarian style imposes rigidity for its own sake and the parent shows little warmth. Think of Dwight Shrute's parents. To distinguish between the two, one needs sufficient information about the parent and his interactions with his kids. If one were to only observe a brief encounter of an authoritative parent and child one could easily presume that the parent is authoritarian. Seeing a parent discipline a child in public, for example, is not enough data to to categorize the parent as either authoritarian or authoritative.

Given this, it is better to reserve judgement than share one's opinion.