Four Patterns of Parenting Styles: Permissive Parenting
- Image by Texilindo via Flickr
Previously, we discussed the first of four patterns of parenting styles, which is Authoritarian parenting. As a recap, we described Authoritarian parents as inflexible disciplinarian who believed children should always obey their parents and that punishment should always follow a violation of the rules. Their motto probably says, “Resistance is futile.”
A complete opposite of Authoritarian parenting is Permissive parenting, which is the second pattern of parenting style. Unlike the first pattern, Permissive Parenting has too much warmth, but less parental control.
Permissive parents demand less from their children. They often give in to their teens’ wishes just to keep the peace in the home. They do not like to say no to their children. As a result, teens raised by Permissive parents learn that there are few boundaries to respect and rules are mere suggestions. This further develops into lack of self-control and ego-centrism, which affects their relationships with other people.
According to this article at Focus Adolescent Services, Permissive Parenting divides further into four types:
1. General Confused Permissiveness
The most common type seen in Permissive parents compels them to give in to whatever their teen wants. They are generally out of touch with their adolescent and feel that pleasing them is the best they can do as parents.
2. Compensatory Permissiveness
Parents who grew up in poverty or had Authoritarian parents often behave this way towards their own children. They want to give to their teens the material goods and freedom they themselves did not receive from their parents.
3. Conditional Permissiveness
This type of Permissive parenting rewards the teens for good behavior that reflects well on the family, such as getting good grades. The conditional behavior should have been taught as part of a child’s responsibility towards his or her family, but instead, the behavior becomes a token for exchange with material rewards.
4. Indifferent Permissiveness
Parents who display indifference towards their teens may be too preoccupied with their own problems, their work or their selves. They give their teens whatever they wanted; in return, they expect their kids to leave them alone and not make demands on their time.
All these types have something in common: the parents often give whatever their teens wanted because they do not want to be bothered with putting in time and effort to raise their kids in the right direction. A large portion of the fault lies with the parents, who fail to take an active participation in the rearing of their children.
