Why Parenting Styles Matter When Raising Children By Kendra Cherry

During some point in our life, we as human beings, were all dependents, nurtured, and recipients of wisdom imparted by individuals recognized in society as parents. Whether it’s biologically or legally, those privileged enough to bear this social status are responsible for the fulfillment of one of the most sacred yet crucial duties our species depends on: sharing knowledge. Broadly speaking, the transmission of said information from parent to offspring is a foundational component in the process of understanding and adapting to the world we live in. However, the particular manner in which a parent communicates the ways of the world to his or her child plays a significant factor in the development of the child.

On this note, several psychologists

According to the article, “Why Parenting Styles Matter When Raising Children,” written by Kendra Cherry, there are four noteworthy parenting styles that categorize parents. Cherry identified the four as authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting, permissive parenting, and uninvolved parenting. These four parenting styles, as Cherry briefly shedded light on, vaguely address the different levels of interaction parents have with their children as well as the variation in methods parents choose to educate their children with.

In her article, Cherry discusses the ideas credited to developmental psychologists, Diana Baumrind, Eleanor Maccoby, and John Martin. Looking into Baumrind’s contribution, she claimed there were only three parenting styles which are authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. A parent that is viewed as authoritarian typically establishes strict rules in which the child is expected to abide by without question. Consequently, like Cherry indicated in her article, “Failure to follow such rules results in punishment.” In this case, the parent provides little to no guidance to the child.

Some variables that need further experimentation include: culture, everyday living situations, marital status, income, job satisfaction, substance abuse, social life, stress levels, illnesses, past traumas, ideology, tragic events, and aggressive defiance on behalf of the children themselves. With this being said, the conclusions psychologist have drawn are not yet precise. The research conducted on parenting merely identifies factors of correlations, however does not establish specific factors of cause and effect. While our society views the authoritative parent as the ideal approach, others, like myself, may differ in opinion. The stigmas affiliated with labels like “authoritarian”, “permissive”, and “negligent” are misleading and may provoke prejudiced feelings from people of the community. These labels, without an updated status on the family, give people a negative image of the kind of people they are. Although this article describes the four parenting styles, it failed to mention reasons why parents parent in accordance to these particular styles. Because factors such as culture also contribute significantly to the character development of a child, associating the unique variations of parenting styles, that unquestionably causes the character development of a child to unravel the way it