We are a participant in the Amazon LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertizing program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Furthermore, this page may contain other sponsors, affiliate, and/or affiliate links. This means if you click on a link (ad) on our site, we may receive and commision. As always, opinions are my own and are sincere. You can read our disclaimer and private policy. We also have our disclosure policy.

Today I’m going to discuss the effects of parenting styles on child development. As with any human being, we’re all a little different. My examples of how each parenting style impacts a child’s life may not pertain to every child. For example, if you have a special needs child then the parenting styles I’m discussing today may impact them differently. This is more for an educational resource than a by the book rule of thumb.

As usual, I would like to share some books related to the parenting styles if you are want to look up some reference:

Democratic Parenting: Evolving Beyond Authoritarian and Permissive Parenting (For Kids Aged 1 – 12)Parent-Child Relations: An Introduction to Parenting (10th Edition)Parent-Child Relations: A Guide to Raising ChildrenFamily Policy Matters: How Policymaking Affects Families and What Professionals Can Do

The Effects of Parenting Styles on Child Development

How Permissive Parenting Affects a Child

Children who are raised by permissive parents tend to lack self-discipline and may possess poor social skills. Due to the low expectations given by a permissive parent, children raised in this type of environment may lack high expectations of themselves. Since parents who tend to be permissive are non-confrontational in nature, the children rarely learn how to stand up for themselves and in turn, can face many difficulties as they enter adolescence and must make some difficult decisions.

Permissive parenting impacts a child’s life in such a deep way that they could end up with a high temper and lack of emotional empathy. These children will more than likely not be taught to have open communication and to debate in a healthy way. Their emotions will run rapid and often they’ll avoid serious confrontation on any topic in life from now forward.

Authoritative Parenting

Children who were brought up in a home with an authoritative parent tend to have higher self-esteem, self-discipline and are more self-reliant than those raised by a permissive parent. Due to the reasonable expectations and warm nature of an authoritative parent, children who were raised in this environment will often be natural born leaders. Children of this parenting style will be able to stand up for what they believe in and face confrontation in a healthy, reasonable manner.

Authoritative parenting impacts a child’s life in a positive way because the child has grown up in an environment where expectations, rules, and structure were set but they were set in a more understanding, warm way. These children grew up having a home where open communication was encouraged and consequences fit the crimes. This means the child of an authoritative parent will know right from wrong and make decisions accordingly.

Authoritarian Parenting

Children who were raised by an authoritarian parent tend to have lower self-esteem, poor social skills and are more indecisive by nature. This is the result of living in an environment where no empathy was shown, support of emotional growth lacked and the rules were set in stone, no matter how much the child grew or needed the parent to adapt. Children of this parenting style will grow up to have behavioral issues, lack of creativity and will be unable to accept failure in their life.

This rigid parenting style known as authoritarian parenting is one in which a child isn’t’ allowed to grow as an individual. The child living in an Authoritarian environment will have to always succumb to what the parent wants, be the person their parent wants and will not be able to express their own thoughts or opinions. This will create a child who grows into an adult who will be a follower versus a leader and have difficulties creating healthy relationships and friendships in life.

My hope is that you’ll have left this article learning a bit more about your parenting style and how it may impact your child. There’s no right way to raise every child, but if you can take time to learn and adapt to your child’s needs, then you’ll be on your way to raising a healthy, happy, well-rounded child.  

This is the last post of the parenting style series. You might check out the previous posts to get more information about this topic:

What Kind of Parents are You? 3 Different Parenting Styles

The Pros and Cons of Permissive Parenting

The Pros and Cons of Authoritarian Parenting

The Pros and Cons of Authoritative Parenting

If you like this post, you might like to visit:

How to Communicate Better with Your Children
6 Ways to Be a More Effective Parent
How to Teach your Child to Have a Positive Attitude
10 Tips to Raise Confident Children
Parenting is Tiring without Children Motivation {Review}