Chapter 5, Parenting Styles

After reading the section on parenting styles, I started thinking about people I know and how they act based on the style their parents use. It says how Authoritative is the "just right" style. From what I've noticed that seems to be true. But comparing the Authoritarian and Permissive styles is interesting. Children growing up with Authoritative parents seem to learn more from them, they're lifestyles develop with parents input. But with the other to parenting styles, people develop more based on their peers.

I can honestly say my parents are more permissive than anything, although they sometimes seem to use both other styles. My sister, who grew up with kids that were frequently getting in trouble, got in fights with my parents, threw tantrums, didn't listen, etc. My brother grew up with more responsible, smart friends. He always listened, worked hard, got good grades, and rarely fought with my parents. I'm kind of a mixture of the two and, to prove my point, I hang out with people who are never in trouble and people who are always in trouble.

It seems to be true for everyone I know. I can think of two different people under the Permissive style, one that grew up with more responsible friends and one that grew up with friends who were often in trouble. The first friend is responsible, has very good values, and gets excellent grades. The second friend is always in trouble, does very stupid things, and doesn't care about school.

I can also think of two different people under the Authoritarian style. And just like two other two, one has more responsible friends, one was more irresponsible friends. The first gets good grades, works VERY hard, and is very self disciplined. The second, also works hard and is self disciplined, but gets in a lot of trouble and seems to rebel more against his parents.