Negative Impact Of Authoritarian Parenting On Child Development

Illustration of Authoritarian Parents (August de Richelieu / Pexels)

JAKARTA - Every family has different parenting styles to apply to children. There are parents who are comfortable applying permissive parenting, but not a few who prefer authoritarian parenting. Even though it is considered too harsh, many parents think that authoritarian parenting is the best way for children to learn to obey the rules.

Quoted from the Parenting Science page, Tuesday, February 16, Gwen Dewar, Ph.D, an anthropologist explained that authoritarian parenting is not always good because it can eliminate the closeness between children and parents.

“Authoritarian parenting is the strictest and toughest. This forces the child to be obedient and kind at all times by threatening, humiliating, and other punishments. This parenting style is also associated with parental approaches that are not warm and responsive, ”Dewar wrote.

In addition, authoritarian parenting also has other negative impacts on children's lives, such as;

Disobeying the rules

It is true that being authoritarian can make children obey the rules. However, as the child develops, he will grow tired and disgusted by the relentless strict rules in his life. Finally, he will try to find out the limits of his parents by taking actions that might endanger himself.

Rule dependency

There are two possible attitudes that arise from children resulting from authoritarian parenting, namely defiance of rules or dependence on rules. His habit of carrying out the rules makes it difficult for children to determine life goals. When he is faced with an environmental situation without rules, the child will feel insecure and confused about what to do. Because, his life is used to being controlled by parents.

Lack of confidence

The continuing impact of rule dependence is the emergence of a lack of self-confidence in children. He will find it difficult to carry himself in a new environment or be less intelligent in dealing with other social conditions, apart from the one he lives.

Perpetrators of violence

Children are very vulnerable to imitating the behavior of their parents. Parents' attitudes are examples for children. So, if children often see punishment as a normal thing that happens as part of authoritarian parenting, it could be that they will become bullies at school. Especially if parents often punish children saying "this is all for your good". The child will act tough on his friends because he thinks punishing is a good thing.

It's hard to express an expression

Accustomed to submitting to rules, threats, and punishments makes it difficult for children to express their expressions. He even tends to grow up to be a shy kid and doesn't have the confidence to make friends.