Authoritative Parenting - An Overview

There are many different parenting styles out there and many parents strive to find the best style for them, while others go with the flow and naturally fall into different types. This article is about Authoritative parenting, an approach to parenting that seeks to set rules and guidelines that are in the best interests of their baby. Authoritative parenting is a style that provides rules and structure to a child's life. The rules give structure without being overly strict thus allowing your child to explore, test and begin to learn acceptable behavior. This type of style also allows parents to express love as it isn't a style that believes showing love and affection will undermine their control in the household.

Authoritative parenting makes it clear that the parent is in charge of the household but it does so without creating a rigid environment, as it believes in flexibility. This is because this style believes in creating structure but not so much that a child is scared of trying new things or scared of doing anything on their own. Instead of seeing bad behavior as a challenge to authority, parents see bad behavior as an opportunity to teach, encouraging children to see why their behavior is bad and what behaviors are more appropriate in different situations.

Those who use this approach believe that children benefit from this approach in several ways. These include having the confidence to try new things, having a desire to learn new things, having mental and emotional balance, having freedom to express and develop their character and also developing a loving respect for family and people in general. This parenting style is considered to take all the attractive qualities of other approaches and tends to eliminate approaches that are based on fear or negative factors.

Authoritative parenting has some pros and cons to it. This style can be difficult to maintain if a child is particularly difficult or willful. It requires a great deal of patience to be ale to maintain and adds an additional responsibility on to parents. This approach also requires periodic reviews, as one needs to factor in the growth, development and change in needs of a child. Despite these, authoritative parenting can give children the power and freedom to ask questions and voice opinions. Children also know exactly what is expected of them and responsibilities are catered to their age and development. This is a style that tries to put your child's development first.