Is There Such a Thing as a Different Parenting Style?

There are millions of parents in the world and each has their own different parenting style. This is not surprising as it would be ludicrous to assume that the vast amount of parents in the world would all prescribe to a uniform method of parenting. And, while there are a multitude of differences, the categories of a different parenting style generally fall into four specific areas: Indulgent, Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Permissive.

The Indulgent Parents

Indulgent parents have a different parenting style that is at odds which what is considered the fabric of (mythic, but constantly media projected) American conventional parenting.
Essentially, these types of parents are permissive in nature and have a tendency to be less-rule oriented than other parents. Think of Madonna and you get the general idea.


The Authoritarian Parents

This may be a different parenting style from other methods of raising children, but it is very similar to a dictatorial method of running a government. Maybe “Totalitarian Parents” would be a better description. Basically these parents are ultra strict and rule heavy, but not in a way that provides safety. Rather, this different parenting style opts to be stifling and constricting providing discipline for personal whim more than anything else.

The Authoritative Parents

This is a different parenting style that borrows heavily from both the Authoritarian and the Indulgent Parenting modules to provide a more balanced approach. Essentially, rules and regulations of behavior are enforced but not in such a many that they becomes restrictive (Authoritarian Parenting Module) nor is it so lax that any pretense of rules is reduced to a joke (Indulgent Parents Module). Consider this one a balancing parenting act.

The Uninvolved Parents

This different parenting style is almost a non-entity. It is parenting without actually parenting. It is a detached, ‘let them do what they want’ method of parenting that seeks to give the parents a way out of actually having to perform responsibilities rather than assertively assume the role of parenting, a role they can not or will not assume.

As stated before, there are no absolutes and parents who prescribe to the aforementioned different styles of parenting will do so at a level different from other parents who share the same style. That is, you may have two authoritarian parents and each has a varying level of exercising the severity of their authority.

As such, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but rather an overview to provide some clarity and order to the definition of parenting style.

Developmental Stages and the Parenting Issue they Generate

Working the System: Family Parenting Tools

Advice on Parenting a Child

The Courts and Mandating a Co Parenting Classv

Does Natural Parenting Come Naturally?