What is Your Parenting Style?

Let’s face it, parenting can be a challenge.  One can be highly educated, financially well-off, and a have a huge support network and still find it difficult to raise children.  Most parents are conscientious and want to do what is best to help their children develop into smart, stable and well-behaved individuals.  Parents have different styles of parenting or raising their kids often based on how they were raised.  Sometimes they try to go the opposite path that their own parents took, or they respect the way they were raised and want to stick with the same rules and tactics.

With time, theories of parenting have been evolving. Diana Baumrid developed a famous theory of parenting styles. In her view, parents fall into three main categories. These are Authoritarian, where parents tell children what to do; Indulgent or Permissive, where children are allowed to do what they want to do; and the Authoritative style where rules and guidance are given without the parent being overbearing. She believed that parents need to develop rules of parenting while at the same time being affectionate.  Since her analysis, a fourth style has been described as Uninvolved parenting.  In this case, the parents make few demands, have low responsiveness and offer limited communication.  What parenting style do you most simulate? 

Many theorists consider the Authoritative style of parenting to be the most ideal. The Authoritative parent has high expectations of the child's behavior but at the same time gives the child the chance to express views about those expectations.  This contributes to raising a more confident child with more leadership ship and communicative skills.

So, what is your parenting style? Which style among the four main ones do you apply to your daily child-rearing? These are some of the questions that parents might consider and ask themselves. There are many online classes on parenting that offer a wide-range of information on parenting.

Online parenting classes offer the help that parents need while raising their children from birth to adulthood. Parenting does not always come naturally, and the online resources help to complement other traditional methods of parenting, such as advice from friends and family and reading books. Children will always present different challenges as they grow.  Sometimes taking a 4 hour refresher class with a new second or third baby, or when your child is hitting their teens, or for adopting a child, can be helpful. 

Online parenting courses help individuals to understand the different parenting styles that are common. The online classes help parents to understand the expectations of child behavior at different stages of growth. They also advise parents on the best suggested ways of handling behavioral problems from toddlers to teenagers and how to manage your own anger when they are getting the better of you.  In addition, students will learn how best to discipline their children without being overbearing. Finally, just like a traditional classroom setting, online classes also give you the opportunity to talk with other parents and share their experiences.