Why Is Parenting Style Important In Educating Children?

Illustration (Antoni Shkraba Studio/Pexels)

JAKARTA - A parenting style is a way that parents use in raising their children, including patterns of behavior, attitudes, and an emotional environment. Developmental psychologists have long researched how parents influence their child's development, although it is difficult to prove definite causal relationships.

In the 1960s, reported by Very Well Family, Tuesday, September 2, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted research on more than 100 preschoolers. By using naturalistic observations, parental interviews, and other research methods, he identified four types of parenting.

Authoritarian (Otoritarian)

Tend to set strict rules without explanation, demanding absolute compliance. Mistakes are usually severely punished. This style increases compliance, but can trigger anxiety, low independence, and low intrinsic motivation.

Authoritative (Give Authority With Support)

Parents set clear rules but still behave warm, listen, and support. When children fail to meet expectations, parents are more legitimate than punitive. This style helps children develop responsibilities, self-regulation, and independence

Permissive (Lembek/Menjuk)

Parents are very warm and understanding, but rarely set rules or discipline. Children are allowed to make their own decisions. Although it can foster independence, this style often causes problems with self-regulation, school performance, and is often involved in risky behavior.

Unannvolved (Acuh Takcouh)

Parents only meet the child's physical basic needs but minimal emotional or regulatory involvement. Children tend to experience difficulties in self-control, reliability, and are more prone to delinquents and emotional problems.

Academics: Healthy styles such as authoritative often support learning and motivational achievements. Extreme styles (orientary, permissive, indifferent) usually have negative impacts.

Mental & Emotional: Children with non-auditative parenting styles are more prone to problems such as anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem.

Social & Adult Relationships: The parenting style forms a child's ability to build relationships, emotional regulation, and face the challenges of adult life.

Many families show a mix of parenting styles. For example, mothers may be more authoritative, while fathers are more permissive. This can lead to mixed signals for children

To direct it to an authoritative style, several steps can be taken, namely:

Relations between parenting and behavior are based on correlational research, which is useful for finding intervariable relationships. However, such research cannot establish definite causal relations.

The parenting style has a real impact on children's development, especially in aspects of self-esteem, emotional regulation, and social relations. A balanced authoritative style between demands and support generally gives the best results. However, the combination of approaches according to culture, situation, and uniqueness of children remains important to pay attention to. Parents can also try to shift to more involved and supportive styles gradually.