Child Rearing Strategies

Parenting Styles: In psychology, parenting styles can be described as mental constructs that represent typical strategies used by parents in child rearing. Generally, many parents tend to develop their own strategies through a mixture of factors, which emerge over time as children move across various stages of life and develop their own personalities. In essence, parenting styles are influenced by the personalities of parents and children but are largely influenced by the parent's culture.

Parenting styles are associated with several theories and opinions on the most effective means of child rearing and the varying levels of time and initiatives parents are ready to invest in the process of child rearing. Notably, the investment of a parent in the growth and development of a child usually begins before birth. However, parenting styles are also determined by various principles that contribute to division of these strategies in different categories.

Principles of Parenting Styles: As psychological constructs used in standard strategies for the growth and development, parenting styles are embedded on certain theories and opinions. In addition to the theoretical foundations of these strategies, parenting styles are also based on several categories depending on certain principles. It is important for parents to understand their child rearing strategies because it will help them to determine the impact and effectiveness of their parenting styles.

This process also enables parents to develop a basis for various healthy developmental outcomes during child's growth (Kopco, p.1). The most common principles used to determine categories of parenting styles are parental control and warmth. Parental control basically refers to the extent with which parents manage the behaviors of their children through several control measures, particularly the establishment of rules and demands. Under this principle, the parent tends to be demanding but not necessarily responsive in the growth and development of their children.

On the contrary, parental warmth is a principle that means the extent with which parents accept and respond to the behaviors of their children. When the child rearing strategy is based on this principle, the parent is not unresponsive to or does not reject the child's behavior. Even though these parenting principles are associated with varying parenting styles, they provide four basic parenting styles when combined together. Classification of Parenting Styles: One of the most commonly used principles of parenting is parental control, which contributes to different parenting styles.

There are various categories of parenting styles that emerge from the principle of parental control including & #8230; Authoritative Parenting Style: While authoritative parenting style is a democratic parenting strategy, it is based on the parental control principle. When using this strategy, parents are not only warm to their children but also firm. Generally, parents tend to be attentive, forgiving, and teach their children appropriate behaviors based on the rules and regulations they have established to control children's behaviors.

Parental control is expressed in this parenting style through setting clear expectations and establishing high standards. Authoritative parents discipline children depending on reasoning and motivate their children towards making decisions and learning from mistakes. Therefore, authoritative parenting style combines a caring tone with structure and constant establishment of limits. For instance, when a child asks for some snacks from the parent, the parent only offer him biscuits and says he can have the rest later.

Secondly, when a child grabs a toy from his colleague, the parent enforces limits by asking the child to let him play with it for now (Schnell par, 3). Authoritarian Parenting Style: This is a strict child rearing strategy characterized with high expectations from parents but minimal communication between parents and children. In this case, parents do not explain to children the logical reasons for the established rules and limits though children are expected to obey these rules blindly.

Generally, authoritarian parents are extreme disciplinarians, restrictive, highly controlling, punitive, and require their children to obey rules. They prefer strict discipline and obedience to rules over independent behaviors. For example, when the child grabs a toy from his playmate, the parent demands and forces him to return it immediately. Secondly, a child asks for snacks but the parent promptly turns down the request without any explanations. Totalitarian Parenting Style: This parenting style is a by-product or outcome of authoritarian parenting or strict parenting (Prange, p.1).

While this strategy is largely similar to the authoritarian parenting style, it involves extreme measures of enforcing discipline. Actually, totalitarian parents operate on the principle that it is my way or no way in which children are expected to obey the established regulations without questioning and punished for any failure to do so. In this case, parents do not acknowledge the perspectives of their children and are primarily not emotionally in tune with their children. For instance, a child who grabs a toy from his.