Parenting Styles Have A Key Effect On A Child s Development

Helicopter Parents: Why they’re doing their teen more harm than good_ â€Å"Where will you be at each minute of the day? Who will you be with? When will you be home? Will there be anyone else there? What will you be doing? How do we know we can trust you?† These are just some of the questions that many teenagers encounter on a daily basis, when growing up under the rule of authoritarian parents. Parenting styles have a key effect on a child’s development, impacting both present and future relationships in all aspects of life, and a highly common type of parenting is this authoritarian style. Authoritarian parents focus on discipline, and show little to no warmth. A ‘helicopter parent’ is a term used to describe parents (commonly mothers) who†¦show more content†¦This clearly demonstrates that authoritarian parenting has harmful effects, and as such, it would be ludicrous to believe that this style of parenting is the most effective style of parenting. Often as a result of a high level of involvement from parents that does not diminish as a child grows up, the teenager turns to delinquent behaviour. This could be in the form of substance abuse, stealing or even hurting themselves or others. New research from the University of New Hampshire not only confirms this theory, but states that instead of discouraging children from disobeying rules (the goal of the parents), authoritarian parenting actually encourages the child to behave this way. This type of parenting essentially reduces the likelihood of the adolescent perceiving the authority of their parents as legitimate, and so, rather than respecting their parents and thus their rules, the teenager is more inclined to break their rules and disrespect their parents. This is of course not to suggest that permissive parenting is the solution to these issues. Permissive parenting focuses less on rules and more on affection, however can often lead to problems of its own, such as lack of empathy to others, inability to adapt to new environments and difficulty maintaining healthy adult relationships. The optimal parenting approach would be somewhere in the middle of these two parenting extremes, authoritative. This type of parenting is a balance of rules and