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Parenting Styles Essay

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When my first child was born I there was considerable interest in Mozart CDs. These Cd's were marketed with the promise that playing them would enrich the intellectual and creative development of my child. Behind the popularity of selling products on such an idea is an unfortunate theme: Parenting can be done quickly and with little inconvenience. The reality is that good parenting does not require classical music, but instead time and effort. As children grow from infancy into adolescence the role of parenting broadens. How parents react to their child's actions communicates a standard of appropriate and inappropriate behavior that are fulfilled with varying degrees of conscious awareness. There are two major dimensions that underline …show more content…

What are the differences between children who have parents that show little affection when compared to those who liberally hug and kiss? Does it matter if some parents are strict while others are lax? Does it make a difference if some parents spank their children while others go on in seemingly endlessly discussions? As my son once said to his older brother, "Just say you understand so he'll shut up." Diana Baumrind (1966, 1967, 1978) decided to find out the answers to those questions by determining what effect parenting styles, as interactions between the two dimensions of parental acceptance and control, had on children's social and intellectual competence. To start with, Baumrind identified four distinct parenting styles: neglectful, permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative. Neglectful parenting is a style in which the parent is very uninvolved in the child's life. These parents seem to focus more on their own lives and are not particularly involved with or supportive of their children. They appear to be detached from the child and provide only for their basic physical and emotional needs and not much else. They offer little or no help with homework, provide minimal supervision, and spend little time together. Permissive (or indulgent) parents are responsive and accepting. They make few demands of their children, indulge their children's desires, and use little punishment. They allow their children free expression of impulses and set few

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