Authoritative Parents: The Pros and Cons

Each family has their own strategy or way of raising their children. That is called a parenting style where they psychologically construct and plan. There are four major styles, each having its own positives and negatives.

The Authoritative parenting style is usually characterized as having high expectations of obedience to rules, order, and directions. Directions can be a discussion between a child and a parent about the certain types of rules and behaviors allowed, giving it a more child centered approach. These types of guidelines and rules are usually clear and fair along with flexible to the situation and the age of the child. They tend to be clear and consistent with their rules, and respecting the relationship they have with their child as a two-way relationship. Authoritative parents try to encourage their parents to be independent and to do things by themselves for themselves in an obedient way. Although this type of parenting style requires for the parent to be demanding, they can also be warm and responsive towards the child. The parents are usually not controlling the child to explore more freely, but they set limits and demand maturity. When they come to punishing a child, the parent usually tries their best to explain the punishment and make them understand the motive behind it. The punishments are measured and consistent accordingly to the issue at hand; they are usually not too harsh or too soft. Parents will often set clear standards for their children, monitoring the limits that they had already put into place while allowing the children to develop by themselves. They are usually more attentive to the needs and concerns of their children, and will often show many signs of mercy and forgiveness instead of punishing a child if they fall short or make a mistake.

This style of parenting often results in the children having a higher self esteem and being independents without letting the outside world affect them, all due to the parent's unconditional love. Children often debate with their parents and develop their own opinion in order to justify the reasoning behind their disobedience. These type of children tend to be successful, articulate, happy with everything around them including themselves, and especially generous towards others. These children are liked and appreciated by teachers and peers. They also do extremely well in school and have a very high competence with education. This style is the one that is most recommended for raising children by experts and it is by far one of the most common ones.

Along with that, the relationship between the child and parent is usually one which is warm, friendly, and mutually respectful of one another. Although there may be disagreements and fights, they always occur in a respectful manner. The child also understands when they have done something wrong to upset her parents. The child is usually responsive and willing to work with the parent at an ever later age as the child knows and has experienced the growing sense of responsibility and freedom given to the child over the period of time.