Strict Parenting

Children’s growth and development processes are directly associated with the parenting role their nurturers take. While parents strive to ensure their children have appropriate morals, strict parenting can make children feel pressured. Parents are keen to see their children having the right morals and behavior hence making them will to use extra force when it calls for. However, strict parenting has raised issues among different stakeholders, particularly, organizations that are directly involved in children affairs. The non-governmental group is always on the frontline to raise issues about the manner in which children are raised. Parents often do not realize the effects caused by strict parenting concerning the lives of their children. The authoritarian attitude in parenting should be minimized since it leads to psychological, emotional, and social issues.

Strict parenting often has adverse psychological effects on children. High levels of control and guidance expressed by the parents cause anxiety in their children (Professional & Kennard, 2017). For example, a parent may scold a child because of arriving home late. In this case, every time children are away from home, they become anxious. It is possible that they would need to abandon a church youth meeting, for instance, to get home on time; this affects their independence. Depression is primarily associated with strict parenting because it limits children’s independent actions (Lane & Herald, 2016). This psychological problem may deter the children’s effective growth and development. For example, a child’s poor academic performance may be inconsistent with parents’ expectations, and they may scold a child for it. A parent may use such words as “terrible” or “horrific” to refer to the child’s performance and this may make a negative impact on the child. Such children may view themselves as the ones who are less worthy than other people, and this can lead to a great depression. Children who experience authoritarian attitude from the parents have a high level of anger (Lane & Herald, 2016). Any slight issue at home or school makes them angry. At times, this feeling is so strong that children cannot deal with it, even when making efforts to cope with the anger. Therefore, authoritative parenting leads to the development of psychological issues in children.

Emotional conflicts among children are also associated with authoritative parenting. The lack of internalized self-discipline is connected to strict upbringing methods. The child’s behavior that is found inappropriate by the parents makes them utilize severe restrictions and punishments. However, such practices do not help children acquire self-regulation potential in their lives. Harsh limits generate resistance among children hindering them from taking responsibility for their lives (Dienstbier, 1975). For example, beating may work to control cases of theft among children, but it does not aid in ensuring they abandon such behavior. The situation may repeat since the measure applied by the parent is not strong enough to have children regulate themselves. Therefore, parents should ensure they initiate better ways of dealing with such cases. Children who are brought up with the application of strict educational methods are often rebellious (Bosmans, Braet, Beyers, Van Leeuwen, & Van Vlierberghe, 2011). An angry attitude and rebellion are likely to be witnessed amongst children, teenagers, and young adults. Adults disregard instances of harsh treatment as they often feel it goes against their expectations (Grolnick, 2003). It is evident that adults can control themselves, and they expect other people to give them space. Thus, children would also prefer to have their parents provide them with the space to control their behavior rather than develop harsh measures against them. Children’s emotional security has a primary significance. Its absence may cause children experience failure in various areas (Perles, 2011). Therefore, strict parenting eliminates the existence of emotional safety and security, which are necessary for successful academic and social outcomes. For example, the use of harsh words and beating can make a child lose concentration in one’s studies hence leading to lower performance. Therefore, severe parenting techniques cause emotional conflicts among children.

Social relationships, including the parent-child relationship, are affected when parents use strict forms of parenting. Every time parents use authoritative measures against their children, they abandon the empathy element. Parenting becomes hard for them as children develop disinterest (Hoffman & Martin, 1960). It becomes hard for the parents to communicate with their children and this may cause a significant indifference between the two parties. Bullying and strict parenting are interconnected. Children who are brought up with strict parenting methods develop a sense of lack of acceptance in dealing with problems affecting them. The absence of someone who could learn them how to cope and deal with issues makes them misbehave (Hoffman & Martin, 1960). For example, if a child is offended by the peers at school, they are likely to bully and act on them since their parents have used similar measures in dealing with wrong deeds. Children find it hard to make friends when brought up in authoritative families. According to Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch and Darling (1992), teens with authoritative background demonstrated fewer chances of being socially accepted by their friends. The majority of their friends keep away from them since in many instances they express a bullying behavior. Additionally, such children do not demonstrate a self-reliance, making their peers stay away from them. Thus, the affected parent-child relationship, bullying, and inability to make friends are associated with strict parenting.

Despite the adverse effects of strict parenting, one of the significant advantages of this method is academic achievement. Permissive parenting has a way of generating excellent academic results in children. Strict educational methods may motivate children to become successful in their academics and other areas of development of their talents (The Bump, n.d.). Through strict parenting, children learn to make healthy decisions and establish appropriate values. They can efficiently explore their talents and interests hence improve their life outcomes. Authoritative approach favors the development of confidence in children, which is a vital element in academic excellence (Goodall, 2013). Additionally, self-control eliminates cases of peer pressure, which is a common practice within the school environment. Therefore, children who have experienced strict parenting often have excellent academic performance. Authoritative parenting enables children to set boundaries and limits which lead to self-control (Aka & Gencoz, 2014). Children get an opportunity to make healthy decisions and avoid peer influence. In such a way, discipline is instilled among the children in their early life making them less likely to engage in risky activities. Children observe how their parents act and learn to act similarly. Therefore, strict upbringing enables children to have high academic achievements through self-control.

Authoritative parenting should be minimized since it has psychological, emotional, and social effects on the children. Strict upbringing leads to the development of anxiety, depression, and anger in children, which negatively affect their lives. Additionally, it also raises emotional issues such as the inability to have internalized self-discipline, rebellious behavior, and emotional insecurity. It also interferes with the social welfare by making it hard for the children to interact with their parents effectively, forcing them to bully others, and finding it difficult to make friends. Strict parenting also has some advantages, such as academic achievements. However, the disadvantages of this parenting style outweigh its benefits. Thus, parents should minimize the application of the authoritative methods of education and raise children with fewer restrictions. Reduction of authoritative attitude helps to deal with psychological, emotional, and social problems.

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