An Interview About Parenting Styles
admin, August 4th, 2009 Jack Sofronsky, a postgraduate student at Howard University talks about attitudes and parenting styles in his family: “…Speaking about my family, I have to say that my parents were mostly using permissive parenting style. But, at the same time, their parenting strategy included some elements of authoritative style as well, when it was necessary. That is why I am always very thankful to them for their flexibility, tolerance, trust and abilities to support or find necessary words to influence my decisions.
My mother was a teacher. She used to work only till afternoon, so usually she had a lot of time to spend with me and take care about me. When I was a kid, we used to have strict rules about the things I need to wear or to eat, but in general she was quite liberal to me. Certainly, like every little child, from time to time I was disobedient, so she had to punish me, spank or sermonize.
My father, who was a construction engineer, usually worked full day. He used to come home only in the evening and feel very tired, but he was always involved into all family matters and never tended to limit our communication. As the man of the house, he always had the last word and his decisions were undisputable. Therefore, he was more authoritative in my eyes, than mom.
I guess I was quite a typical child for permissive parenting, especially during my preschool and teenage times. I was rather calm, silent and serious kid, who was extremely interested in exploring the world and learning something new every day. I had not much time for naughtiness and was going crazy for reading books, watching educative TV programs or making toys for myself.
In my early adolescence times I was very busy with my studies and hobbies. I like cycling very much. At the weekends I used to ride to the special places I liked. Besides, I was fond of music, so I tried to learn playing guitar, making arrangements and even composing my own songs. My parents were sure that I would not waste my time on smoking or hanging around in companies with doubtful reputation. Therefore, they used to express total trust and confidence in me.
I have to add that I truly appreciate that my parents did not choose dominating parenting style, were never concentrated on negative emotions and always tried to be very open to me in everything. Being an extremely sensitive and touchy person, I would be seriously affected by authoritarian approach in parenting and, probably, develop such personal qualities, like anxiety, weakness, passiveness, and so on.
Finally, there is one more effective parenting technique, which my parents constantly used and placed importance on. In any situation and under any circumstances my parents were always perfect role models for me. They knew so well that the best way in parenting is not punishing and sermonizing, but simply being an example for their child in everything.
I truly respect and adore my parents for their hard work on bringing me up and supporting me. Their contribution into my personal development is not only flexibility in choosing parenting styles, but also creating a perfect atmosphere filled with love, care, mutual trust and esteem in our family.”
Categories: Uncategorized parenting, parentint styles, permissive parenting
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