Authoritative and Permissive Parenting in the Media

Journal Entry #4
For Authoritative parenting Cam and Mitchell from Modern Family are a great example, in the show they adopted a Vietnamese child and raised her through authoritative parenting style as they established rules and guidelines for her and expected her to follow the rules. They are also very responsive and willing to listen any of her questions. Whenever she fails to meet the expectations, Cam and Mitchell are more nurturing and forgiving rather than punishing her harshly. For example when Lily their daughter says a swear word, rather than punishing her, they kindly explain to her why the language is inappropriate and isn’t allowed in their house and school. Their disciplinary methods are much more supporting rather than penalizing. They want her to be assertive as well as socially responsible and self regulated within their society. For authoritarian parenting Red from The 70s Show is a perfect example, Eric his son and Laurie his daughter live with their Red and are expected to follow the strict rules established by him, Most of the times when they fail to do so, He gets very angry and results in punishment. Many times when Red gets mad at his children for disobeying he has no good reason but sometimes says “my house my rules” These parents have high demands, but are not responsive to their children. He is a very hard father and demands high results of his children and he can be getting very sarcastically angry at moments. A good example of permissive parenting would be Phil from Modern Family because although he cares for his children very much, he still exhibits many permissive qualities for example he rarely ever punishes his children and has very low expectations and has small boundaries, and almost all of the time gives into the children demands. I definitely think I will be an authoritative parent because I would want my children to understand the right and wrongs with this world without being held back to the point where they feel like they don’t have any freedom. But the right amount of punishment and freedom will hopefully lead to successful children. I want my children to utilize reasoning and work independently, but because of that I would also have high expectations of them. When my children break the rules, I will discipline them in a fair and consistent manner. Also I want to act as role model and show the same behaviors that I expect from them, because hopefully my children are more likely to learn these behaviors quicker and easier. I will have to show good emotional understanding and control, so my children also learn to manage their own emotions and learn to understand others as well. But the most important thing they will be to act independently, which hopefully teaches them that they are capable of accomplishing things on their own, helping to forward strong self-esteem and create self-confidence. * Umer Siddiqui