I interviewed a girl who is 15 years old. Sarah accepted the interview fervently; she answered all the questions though her answers were brief. Sarah lives with her parents, and she has two sisters. One of them is older being is18 years of age, and the other is a toddler who is7 years old. The older sister is closer to her than toddler sister and her family spends most of the time together. Generally, her relationship with her family is very good.
Parenting style plays a fundamental role in child development, so it is important to know the style of parenting that parents use to control their children's behavior. From the interview, it emerges that Sarah’s parents use permissive parenting style. This is due to the fact that they are more responsive than demanding for mature behavior and have inconsistent rules. For example, Sarah’s parents set many rules before the exam days; like not allowing them to use the computers for studying purposes, however, when the exam days come, they break the same rule. They also show love toward their children and avoiding punishment when their children do something wrong. They believe that their children should have their own choices, in order to get their trust. For this reason, they prefer to be more of a friend to their children, rather than a parental figure. For instance, Sarah gets does her daily routine activates without any compulsion. For these reasons, permissive style is the closest style to that of Sarah’s parents.
This style of permissive parenting has outcomes on children's behaviors. One outcomes of permissive parenting is the self- control which is hard to achieve with such children (Parenting Style, para. 2). When such children want something, they will want it their way. They cannot have the patience to wait. It also leads to selfishness making them put themselves and their desires a priority. They are inconsiderate and do not respect others. In addition, children of permissive parenting are often unable to set their goals; when they set a goal, they easily give up. They are not self- reliant; they often depend on their parents for tasks such as completing their homework. In other words, they look for an easy way out of things. Furthermore, it may lead to irresponsibility and may in turn lead to them being irresponsible parents when they grow up. This style of parenting generates spoiled children who can only be pleasant as long as everything goes to their way (Parenting Style para. 6).
An interview helps to get more information about family influences and it is an easy way to classify child's parents since the child gives detailed information from their experience. The strength of this method is that it is a direct way to elicit the information and data. The interviewer also has a chance to gauge the reaction of the child to questions posed. Having a one on one interview also enables the interviewer to ask follow up questions based on the provided answers The limitation of this method is that the children may not be honest in some answers in other words, they may conceal something that may important to know. Children are also easily intimidated and an interview places a lot of responsibility on the interviewer to ensure the child’s utmost comfort.
Other methods that could be used include observation and self- report inventory (Clarion. edu, para. 3). Observation would however be intrusive in a family set-up or might be impractical for a researcher to follow the family’s every move to get the required information. A self- report inventory would be effective if parents would honestly and willingly communicate their behavior with their children.
In conclusion, parents have the role of guiding their children's behaviors. Each parent has different style of doing this. Each parenting style reflects different outcomes on children’s development, so the parenting has to be balanced in term of responsiveness and demand.
Works Cited
Clarion. Edu. “Non-Experimental Methods” psy1.clarion.edu, n.d. Web 6 March 2012.
“Different Parenting Styles: Permissive Parenting.” Homeschooling- Parenting.com.
Homeschooling- Parenting, n.d. Web. 6 March 2012.
