Family is the natural environment in which, upon the ideal circumstances, a child grows and develops. The role of parents in successful early development of children cannot be overrated, as adults are considered fully developed, stabilized individuals who carry an important mission of ensuring proper physical, psychological, social and cultural development of their offsprings.
Increasing evidence suggests that the early period of child development has a significant influence on their further life in terms of cognition, learning and behavior (Young, 2002, p. 23). Naturally, much depends on the sociocultural, economic and political environment in which a child spends the early stages of life. However, parents undoubtedly hold responsibility for supporting their children throughout the early stages of their integration into local community and, later, society. Encouraging learning, assisting children as they explore the world around them, showing interest in their activities and teaching them socially acceptable norms, rules and morals are vital for a young child to develop into an open-minded individual ready to take responsibility for his actions and overcome certain difficulties in life. Still, mere understanding of the importance of proper guidance for a young child is not enough for parents to be successful at it. Choosing the most suitable parenting style and applying it correctly is the most important step when it comes to ensuring proper early development.
Psychologists have identified four parenting styles (Kopko, 2007). Parental control implies authoritative parenting style, where parent or a caregiver sets strict rules and demands in order to manage and control child’s behavior. While this parenting style is aimed at child’s obedience in becoming acquainted with norms and standards of behavior expected and tolerated in a certain society, excessively authoritarian model of parent’s behavior might as well trigger rebellious attitude and result in lack of trust and understanding between parents and their children. In order to avoid such undesirable consequences, parents need to be more assertive than restrictive and make sure the child knows about his parents’ positive intentions and does not treat their strictness as the restriction of his freedom or the absence of parental love. The right balance between nurturing a child and allowing him to be independent to a certain limit signifies for a successful implementation of this parenting style. Authoritarian parenting style is much more strict and controlling that authoritative (Kopko, 2007). While authoritative parents tend to find the golden middle between being controlling and demonstrating the trust they have for their children’s own decisions and actions, authoritarian parents make their children maintain one strictly established line of behavior and hardly give any freedom to their children. No family rules, norms and behavior patterns can be debated and negotiated, nor is there any forgiveness for children’s misbehavior. Such extreme parenting style eventually leads to the child exposed to it accepting the idea of adherence to strict discipline being better than individual development and independent behavior (Kopko, 2007). Thus, such child is unlikely to feel comfortable in rapidly changing society. When adolescents raised up by this parenting style start their own life, they often encounter certain difficulties in adequately reacting to drawbacks of people around them, they also tend to have a narrow social circle and experience hard time stepping out of their comfort zone and adjust to changes in any aspect of their life.
Uninvolved parents are another parenting style, which is characterized by parents paying little attention to their child’s development and life in general. The reasons behind some parents accepting this style as the most suitable for them may vary from parents being overwhelmed by their personal circumstances or having given up on trying to maintain authoritative or authoritarian parenting style (Kopko, 2002). Naturally, this parenting style is likely to result in children distancing from their parents. Children’s development in this case becomes dependent upon outside factors which, due to the lack of parental control, might not always appear to positively influence child’s cognitive development. Uninvolved parenting also suggests a certain family model, which children are likely to subconsciously adopt and practice is their later life, which leads to the generations of families where the inner environment stands far from healthy and beneficial for both parents and children. Finally, permissive parents seem close to uninvolved parents in practicing little control over their children’s behavior, decisions and choices, however, the motivation differs. Permissive parents act on the idea that children need to be given full freedom and have all their dreams and wishes realized. The abovementioned source suggests that such parents do not view themselves as role models for their children, but rather a resource, should their child seek their advice, assistance and whatnot. Such parenting style may lead to child developing egocentrism and having difficulties with self-control and anger management.
Surely, a well-balanced mixture of all four parenting styles applied at the right situations is a perfect way to ensure proper cognitive development and establish great parent-child relationships. Still, if the preference had to be given to one parenting style only, I would state that authoritative parenting style is the most effective one. Although many certified psychologists have stated this parenting style to be the most effective, my choice is based on the fact that parents need both to be understanding and showing authority when needed, and the named parenting style includes both strict and forgiving approach to parenting. Following one line when it comes to parenting might be appealing as it does not require certain creativity and flexibility; however, these two aspects are indeed useful, as they turn a common parent into a true professional capable of interchanging modes of influence and conveying the information to the child. Still, thought authoritative parenting is considered to be separate parenting style, it undoubtedly combines different aspects of other parenting styles, which makes it more efficient.
Cognitive development is referred to as child's development in terms of language learning, conceptual resources, information processing and perceptual skills, in other words, basic aspects of brain development and cognitive psychology and core essentials for due formation of an individual. Early child development (ECD) and human development (HD) are closely linked, which means that successful early childhood education has direct influence on cognitive development and, if applied properly, guarantees adequate physical, mental and social development of the individual in further stages of their life (Young, 2002, p.63). Thus, early childhood education needs to be timely and fully addressed in families, kindergartens, child care facilities and primary schools, as it is the basis of proper cognitive development of an individual.
Thus, family and parents in particular greatly affect the development of infants and young children. While the nowadays reality suggests that the effects of parenting can be both positive and negative, it is important for people who already are or will become parents to understand the scale of their influence not only on children’s early development, but on their adolescent and adult life, as well. Being at least primary educated on the subject of early and cognitive development and anticipating the importance of ensuring successful development to their children, those involved in parenting have all the chances to raise an educated, open-minded and happy individual, healthy both physically and mentally.
References:
Kopko, K. (2007). Parenting Styles and Adolescents. Cornell University Cooperative Extension.
Young, M. (2002). From early child development to human development (1st ed.). Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
