Four Parenting Styles

The four parenting styles developed from the different parenting styles first observed by Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist, in 1966 and 1967. I include this information, because I feel it's useful to be able to reflect on the kind of mothers we are in order to make positive choices about parenting. She described three general types of parenting: permissive, authoritarian and authoritative, the fourth, uninvolved, was added later.

We talk about two basic psychological traits: control and responsiveness. The different levels of these behaviours seen in different parents gives rise to the four different styles.

Control describes the need of the parent to control and mould the child's behaviour. Responsiveness describes the parents ability to empathise, relate to, and value the child's individual wants, needs, opinions and feelings .

Authoritarian Parenting Style

The authoritarian parent is highly controlling and fairly unresponsive to their child's needs and wants; it is characterised by the parents' need for control, and their lack of empathy and warmth towards their child.

Permissive Parenting Style

The permissive parent is very responsive to their child's needs and wants, but doesn't exert much control, their parenting is characterised by the high degree of warmth and responsiveness and lack of control of the child.

Authoritative Parenting Style
The authoritative parent is highly responsive to their child and also highly controlling, it is the most beneficial to children and is recommended by experts.

Uninvolved Parenting Style The uninvolved parent shows a low level of both control and responsiveness in their parenting, this is the least beneficial of the four parenting styles to the children.

What's Your Predominant Style?

I think we all slip into all of the different styles on different occasions, but we will each have a predominant style which we use most of the time. Click the links to read more about each of the styles, and take time to think about how you parent. Does the reality match up to your ideal? If not, you can make some changes. It's all about conscious parenting, not motherhood on autopilot, which I believe is not the best for mother or child.

For information about parents as leaders and insights into how you can increase your children's happiness, click here