Parenting.

Essay by torismom27College, Undergraduate September 2003

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Parenting is a complex activity that includes several precise behaviors that work independently and together to influence child outcomes. Although precise parenting behaviors, for example spanking or reading aloud, may influence child development, looking at several specific behaviors in isolation may be misleading. Many writers have noted that detailed parenting practices are less important in predicting child well-being than is the extensive pattern of parenting. The constructions of parenting methods are most useful to capture normal variations in parents' attempts to control as well as socialize their children. Although parents may vary in how they try to be in command of or socialize their children and the degree to which they do so, a hypothesis came up that all parents are to influence, teach, and control their children, which should be their primary role.

Categorizing parents according to whether they are elevated or low on parental demanding and responsiveness creates a typology of four parenting styles: indulgent, authoritarian, authoritative, and uninvolved.

Each of these parenting styles reflects different naturally occurring patterns of parental values, practices, and behaviors and a distinct balance of responsiveness and demandingness.

*Indulgent parents (also referred to as "permissive" or "nondirective") "are more responsive than they are demanding. They are nontraditional and merciful, do not require mature behavior, allow substantial self-regulation, and steer clear of confrontation. Indulgent parents may further divide into two types: democratic parents, who, are though lenient, are more meticulous, unavailable, and dedicated to the child, and nondirective parents. They also love and care for their children very much but they do not set suitable standards of behavior for them. They are often overprotective or rescuers so children do not learn to take responsibility for their own actions.

oChildren of lenient parents are very immature, lack impulse control, are overly demanding and...