Sociology 125
Daryl Hughes
Parenthood
"Jesus Julie, how the hell could you do that in my own house?"
Just one statement made in parenting and something that both adults and children have learned to ignore. Yet this is only one parenting type and there are other ways of dealing any one problem. There are three primary methods of parenting which consist of permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative. All of these contain their own benefits and downfalls. A child's mind is a delicate thing, and knowing that, we should consider our parenting methods carefully since it will probably be the most influential thing as far as our children's upbringings.
In "Parenthood" we view different outcomes of child development due to various parenting methods. Seeing this from a third person view we say to ourselves, "if that was my kid I would set him or her damn straight." Those parents seem to have chosen a parenting style that is lacking for their situation and that it might necessarily be their faults that the children have grown up to be the way they are because the parents were raised that way. This is the first thing I wanted to make clear is that most people have leant their parenting methods from their parents, wrong or right that's how things work and the only way things will ever change is if parents sit down and reconsider their actions.
There is of course the opposite effect, which the main character of the movie, Gil, seemed to have acquired from the extreme lack of love and compassion he adhered from adolescence through adult-hood. Since Gil's father only took him out on his birthday, and even then would take him to a baseball game and pay an usher to sit with him, Gil developed a strong detachment to his father. This sprung hatred and resentment, which in turn convinced Gil to grow up to be an extra loving and compassionate parent. This brings us to the first parenting method.
Authoritative child rearing is based upon the idea of positive