Parenting and the Public

Parenting styles and techniques have long been incredibly controversial topics for parents, teachers and policy makers alike. There are many different ways children can be raised and many different ways we can affect how they enter society as adults. The ways in which we have communicated these styles and techniques with “stakeholders” has also been a controversial topic. Simply informing teachers and parents of the different types of raising a child is not as simple as it may seem. There are biases and controversies to overcome. Telling parents could incite anger, confusion, and defensive behavior. Using pop/mainstream, theories of parenting to share this information on different parenting styles with the public could be useful but also dangerous. Terms such as “snowplow” parenting and “helicopter” parenting can be easily misinterpreted. Going back to the basics and using older theories could be a better approach. Overall, I think if the intent is well formed and the theories are explained with less bias, the different concepts of parenting could and should be shared with the public in order to help raise our youth to the best of our ability. 

Week of April 2nd

Learning about the different parenting styles, such as Authoritarian, Authoritative, Neglectful, and Permissive, makes it a little more helpful. I think that telling parents, teachers, or other policy makers about these different parenting styles would be a tough conversation. I feel like many parents/caregivers should be open to learning different parenting styles, because it could possibly help the child's future. One danger of telling the public about these parenting styles is, parents either may not be open to change their parenting style at all and they may get angry with you, and if a parent/caregiver were to try out a new parenting style and it didn't go well, they may blame you for it.  I think that it would be a good idea to discuss snowplow and helicopter parenting with parents. Learning new skills and different things about parenting could be very helpful in the long run. Parents may realize that they aren't doing something to the best that they can.

Policy vs. Theory

Everyone has their own thoughts and beliefs on children. Often people will form these ideas without consulting the research that has been done on child development over the field's history. Parenting styles are a wonderful example of an area that most people have a strong opinion on. People still practice all the parenting styles illustrated by developmental researchers even though the data shows one style to work best.  The major danger in illustrating that relationship to the public is that these studies do only show a relationship. We cannot say that one true parenting style causes kids to turn out better than the others, just that kids in these households turn out better on average. Your average layperson may not understand that causation does not equal correlation. Also, it may not be entirely feasible for every single parent in the nation to follow one parenting style. Implementing laws that punish parents for not following a style could lead to even worse outcomes in the children of these parents. A law like this one would also hold one specific group of parents above all others and could cause parents who don't fall into this category to feel inadequate. The best thing that we can do as professionals is to inform the public of the things that they can to do to increase the chances of their child's success without being overly judgmental or punitive. Using popular references to describe psychological phenomena is a great way to convey ideas to the general public. It helps to frame these issues to laypeople in terms that they can relate to or understand more clearly. I think that people are more likely to listen to and practice the suggestions that professionals make when they can understand the ideas better.      

week of April 2

I believe that if we told parents and teachers about these styles in a respectful way, they would have a path to follow as to how to try to make their child successful. They should know that there isn't one proper way to parent/ teach a child, and if they think that what they are doing is right, to not stop doing it. There could be a conflict with it because if you tell someone this is the way you should be doing something, they could get very upset. I think that using "pop" and "helicopter parenting" would help people understand more about what you are trying to get across.

week of April 2nd

Sharing the different parenting styles with parents, teachers, and policy makers is a difficult thing to do.  There is no right or wrong way in sharing the theory.  It all depends on the person in whom the theory gets shared with.  For example; if the theory is shared with neglectful parents, those parents may be offended.  Telling this theory to children is also a risk.  The children may think that it is okay to be disobedient because it is their parents parenting style.  I also believe we should introduce “snow plow” parenting and “helicopter” parenting.  Some parents do not realize that they are over-involved in their children's lives and it should be addressed (helicopter).  Some parent also do not realize that they are sort of babying their child through their life (snowplow).  It is important for parents to realize this so that they can teach their children at a young age to grow up and be mature/independent adults.     

Developmental Theories

Developmental researchers have created many theories about parenting styles and climates. However, it is very difficult to share these theories with parents, teachers, and policy makers. Most theories have a similar component that parents need to be accepting and create a warm, loving environment for children. The most difficult part of sharing these theories is that researchers cannot say that there is a "correct" way to raise children. They can provide the child outcomes that they have found in relation to parenting styles. However, this does not prove that child outcomes are directly caused by parenting styles. Sharing this data could also be dangerous. They could cause many people to become offended or they may misinterpret the results.
I think that helicopter and snowplow parenting styles need to be a topic that is discussed with the public. Both of these parenting styles can have negative effects on children. Helicopter parents hover over everything their child does. This can cause the child to lack independence. Snowplow parents remove all of the obstacles from their child's path. This can lead to a lack of problem-solving skills. The public should be aware of the possible negative outcomes related to these parenting styles.

Positively Affecting Child Outcomes

I think sharing the data results of parenting styles in correlation with child outcomes would be exceedingly insightful/helpful aiding parents & teachers in positively impacting children's path for success. However, people need also to understand that theories are not necessarily fact and will continue to change over time. There should also be an emphasis on the information that there isn't one way to "properly parent" instead use the information to avoid negatively affect child outcomes.

This, in turn, would help lower the number of snowplow and helicopter parents. Snowplow or helicopter parents want the best for their children, informing them this parental style statistically reduces the child's abilities to be independent and cope appropriately in life as an adult would deter people from "clearing the path" for the child. From the lecture this week, the dangers of sharing such information would be the individual's interpretation of the theory of best parenting style. Some people would be inclined to apply it word for word, as others would be more likely to reject it based on bias.

Emphasizing divergent thinking (creative thinking to multiple solutions for a problem or question.) here would likely help with such dilemmas. Mainstream and pop-culture conceptions of parenting should be acknowledged or defined, but I believe such classifications should fall in line with any other form of mainstream media, subjective and biased information.

Compiling the information, then structuring how the data is delivered while also removing biased and subjective material. The public or final draft report should also refrain from shaming certain styles through proper wording to increase the likelihood of parents receptiveness to the data.  Doing so would likely positively impact children's outcomes. If parents, teachers, and lawmakers collaborate to organize/structure ideal components to raise development success by eliminating the negative affecting variables as a starting point.

Prompt for the week of April 2nd

Parents, teachers, and policy makers have to take a stance on how to interact with children. Now that you have seen how developmental researchers classify and describe parenting climate and style, how do we share this theory and research responsibly with stakeholders (parents, teachers, and policy makers)? What dangers might there be in just sharing these data and results indicating a relationship between parenting styles and child outcomes? Lastly, should we use "pop" or mainstream conceptions of parenting, such as snowplow or helicopter parenting, in discussing research and theory on parenting with the public?