Parenting Discipline Styles

I am doing my project on some of the different varieties of parenting discipline styles. In particular in this paper I will be going over three of the most used parenting styles including power assertive, withdrawal of affection, and inference. Also I will be discussing what parenting style I will use in the future.

First, we will be discussing three of the most used parenting styles. First, we will talk about power assertive parenting style. Power assertive parenting style is basically viewed as punishing a child. When using the power assertive style a child who does something bad will have something done badly to them. An example of this would be if you broke your mother's vase while throwing around a super ball. If your mother were using a power assertive approach she might spank or ground you. However it doesn't always have to be actions. Power assertive also covers the threat of action, for example your mother might no spank you, but she might threaten to "Knock the white off your teeth". Either way is considered Power Assertive. This method has its pros and cons. The pros are that the method generally work, children do what they are told in fear of being punished. The cons of this method however are that children do what they are told not because they realize it is wrong, but rather they do not want to get in trouble. This thus creates a problem, because children will do bad things when they think they can get away with it. The next type of parenting style we will be discussing is withdrawal of affection. The withdrawal of affection method is basically viewed as one step from child neglect. When using the withdrawal of affection style a child who does something bad will be ignored, told they are not loved or liked, or told that what they did is disappointing. An example of this would be if you broke your mother's vase while throwing around a super ball. If your mother were using a withdrawal of affection method she might threaten to leave you and your dad and never come back or tell you how disappointed she is with you. There are pros and cons to this method. The pros are that generally a child will follow your directions, also when using the withdrawal of affection method generally a child will try and go above and beyond to please you. The cons for this method are pretty obvious to even an uneducated eye. Threatening to leave your child, telling your child how disappointing they are, and telling your child you do not like them are just things you should not do to the majority of people you know much less your own child. One can only imagine the psychological damage a child takes from all that. The last type of discipline style we will be discussing is inference. Inference style is basically how you would treat a coworker. When using the inference style a child who does something bad will either be punished if it is a recurring action or warned about the consequences if it is a first time offense. An example of this would be if you broke your mother's vase while throwing around a super ball. If your mother were using an inference approach she might do one of two things. If she had warned you before about throwing the super ball in the house she might give you a spanking. If she had not she would most likely tell you what you had done wrong and that you shouldn't do it again. She would also most likely tell you what the punishment will be if you do the undesired action again.