Blog 5: Parenting Styles

As I have come to know my focus student through informal interviews and insight from his own teacher, I have acquired some knowledge on the basis of his home life. “Jason” comes from a divorced family where both of his parents have remarried and have kids of their own. He has two half-sisters, one from his dad’s side and one from his mother’s side. I gained information about Jason’s parents’ parenting styles from his teacher. His father would be characterized as displaying permissive and uninvolved styles of parenting and his mother displays a combination of authoritative and permissive parenting. Both of Jason’s parents display low levels of control which can defined as setting restrictions and discipline for Jason (Bohlin, Durwin, Reese-Weber, p.32). An example of his parents low control would be that Jason’s father allows him to behave the way he wants when he is at his home and fails to realize that implementing discipline in the home affects how disciplined the child is in school. When Jason’s teacher brings up his behavior to his parents they display uninvolved parenting practices because they believe Jason is not the one to blame for his actions but rather the teacher. When Jason gets after-school detention, his parents are not affected by it because he is in an after school program so being in detention does not affect them enough for them to discipline Jason for his actions in class. On the other hand, although his mother is permissive, she does display some authoritative qualities since she tries to discipline Jason for his actions but it inconsistent in her facilitation of consequences when Jason misbehaves.

To my understanding, both of Jason’s parents are responsive in giving him affection and acceptance. They give him toys like video games and four-wheelers. Even though they are divorced, they both display a love for Jason.

Some questions that arise when I analyze Jason’s behavior compared to his parent’s behavior towards him would be what things can they change to instill good behavior in Jason so that it can transfer to his school behavior? Also, I wonder what strategies can Jason’s parents use to eliminate the inconsistency in their parenting styles to benefit Jason in having an equal and consistent distribution of discipline between his parents?

Bohlin, L., Durwin, C.C., & Reese-Webber, M. (2012). Edpsych Modules (Second Edition). New York. Mc Graw Hill Higher Education.

#parentingpracticespermissiveauthoritativeuninvolvedcontrolresponsiveness