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Parenting style has become a hot topic as we negotiate the early part of the 21st century. The technological age has certainly affected the way we raise our children and it’s even been suggested there is a more hands off approach to parenting today.

Let’s face it, in the western world, society today dictates families need to be a two income environment which means either parent spends less time with their children because of work committments and third party carers have come more into play. How about single parenting situations? Similar story here I suspect.

We’ve come a long way since Diana Baumrind made some interesting observations about parenting style, categorizing styles into four main areas: authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent and uninvolved. Is the way a child adapts to society reflective of the type of parenting style they’ve been subjected to?

Authoritative

Authoritative parenting is considered the most desirable style with parents being both demanding and responsive. The child is expected to adhere to disciplines laid down within the household however, they are encouraged to develop their own personalities through less restrictive policies which give them a voice within the family.

The guidelines laid down don’t smother the child to the extent they have no right of reply to certain situations. In other words, there is a certain amount of mutual support, trust and co-operation existing within an authoritative parenting household.

Authoritarian

Authoritarian parenting on the other hand is highly demanding yet parents are considered unresponsive. It’s a little like strict military discipline where what the parent says goes and the child has no right of reply. In a sense, they are repressed and ruled by fear. Studies indicate children from an authoritarian environment are less likely to develop independent tendencies and be less assertive.

Uninvolved Or Indulgent

At the other end of the spectrum, uninvolved parents are exactly that, non-demanding, unresponsive and almost neglectful in their duties as a parent, while indulgent parents are extremely responsive yet lack a little in the area of discipline. Parents lumped in this category tend to want to avoid confrontational situations and the child, “which has them pegged,” usually gets what he/she wants.

So what parenting style do you fall under? Obviously most of us would like to be considered a little authoritative in our approach but has society’s modern trends had an effect on the way we raise our children?
Children are so impressionable at a young age and the early years are vital. A child’s personality could be as much as 90% developed by the time they are seven years of age.

Parenting style certainly makes for an interesting debating point, doesn’t it?

Dean Caporella is a professional broadcaster. Find out why your parenting style can influence how your child adapts to society. Plus, read the latest parenting information along with news and reviews at:http://www.parentinginfoline.com

The most common problem faced by parents of a toddler or a growing child is the idea of leaving their children alone at home. The growing crime rate against children is definitely a matter of grave concern for parents everywhere. However, it is quite impractical to let go off a job for the sake of looking after your children. That is to say, how will you feed and clothe your child well of you don’t have a job?

Man, being a social and caring animal, has given rise to certain individuals who have sworn their lives to looking after others children. This happens out of sheer love for children, the need to protect them and a deep understanding of the pressure that the parents undertake to bring up children while managing a demanding job.

These blessed people are the professional babysitters who undertake babysitting service in your own homes. Babysitting service is also available in agencies that look after your children with total responsibility and care. However, just as your grannys cookies were far better than the best cookies in town, similarly, one babysitter looking after only your child is an entirely ballgame altogether.

Moreover, such babysitters who undertake babysitting service are usually qualified to look after your sick child too. And your child gets to know his babysitter well. Your child realizes that he/she is safe with the babysitter. This is more helpful if you have an unusually shy child.

In a babysitting service agency, there are so many children of the same age group. Your child does not get the attention he/she deserves to express his/her thoughts. This makes the child even more shy and withdrawn. This can result in irreversible damage to your child’s psyche and personality in the future.

A home-appointed babysitter, when contacted through a babysitting service, goes to your house and meets the entire family. He/she does this to know and understand the child better. This will, in turn, help the child trust and like the babysitter gradually. Your child, on getting comfortable in the babysitters presence, will show him/her his/her favorite game and show the babysitter around the house. This will not only make your child comfortable, but it will also make the babysitter aware of the child’s needs.

The other advantage of appointing a childcare service in your own home is that you get to interact with him/her firsthand. This is vital since this stranger will spend more time in your house than you do. While your child gets familiar with the babysitter, you can take a look at all the certificates and letters from other parents recommending his/her services as a perfect babysitter.

Another advantage of such a babysitter from a babysitting service is that you are absolutely sure of who is handling your child everyday. The childcare service agencies can never guarantee that. Why is this so important for your child? This is because your child will develop his/her interpersonal skills and personality only when he/she gets to interact with one individual everyday.

Further, many childcare service agencies refuse to take care of sick children. The cause for such refusal is in the interest of the safety of other children. But it does not help you in any way. But your home-appointed babysitter is usually trained and authorized to take care of your child in case of injuries, sickness, sleeplessness, bad dreams, fear or any other disturbing factor.

MJ Batta writes babysitter service related topics and hosts a baby sitter research site at http://www.sitter-city.net/info/babysitterservice.htm

One of the hardest things about parenting is agreeing on how to be parents. You and your spouse have to agree to a reasonable degree on many issues, most especially discipline. Without such agreement life can be very confusing and inconsistent for the children.

This can be accented when one parent stays at home. That parent is with the children far more than the one working outside the home, and the impact of inconsistencies can be huge.

But you also need to agree on the duties each parent has. You do not want one parent to have the “bad cop” duty all the time. That means the old “wait until your father gets home” threat can be highly unfair to the father, as well as making the punishment be completely unrelated to the discipline issue.

You need to discuss how various issues will be handled. What punishments are appropriate? When can each parent have a break (and both often need one!)? Who is responsible for getting the kids up and who puts them to bed?

One of the key things the stay at home parent needs to remember is that if they don’t ask for it, they are not likely to get time off from being the primary caregiver for the children. And most find it so hard to ask for. Besides, both the kids and the at home parent quickly build habits that mean that one parent will be asked for more things even when both are at home.

Within my own family, I’ve found that it helps to just tell my husband that I want him to go do something with the kids if I need some quiet time, or tell him I need time out of the house alone. It works for us.

Those are the kinds of things you have to figure out. Both the parents need time for themselves sometimes. For some, a little quiet time watching television or playing on the computer is sufficient. Maybe time for a hobby. For others, time outside the home to do as they please is necessary.

It’s also important for the kids to have time with each parent. This is why you have to make sure that when you are both home you are both helping. There are lots of fun things each parent can do with the children, as well as making sure rules are followed and chores get done.

If you find the balance of parenting duties is getting out of hand, it’s time to sit down while the kids are in bed and figure it out. You don’t need to wait for one of you to snap from sheer frustration. A good balance makes everything less wearing on the entire family.

Running her site at http://www.homewiththekids.com/ has made Stephanie Foster think a lot about the various issues stay at home parents face. She offers more tips at her stay at home mom blog, http://www.homewiththekids.com/blog/

Being a new parent can be pretty scary sometimes. You have this brand new little life that is completely dependent upon you. It helps to read books and articles, but until you can experience it first hand, there is no way to even imagine the awesome experience of parenthood.

Babies are tougher than they look. There is an old saying the “babies bounce” and it is a reference to the toughness and resilience of babies. Babies get dropped, they fall (A LOT) and they have accidents. This is not saying that if your baby is in an accident or you drop him or her that you should not get it checked out, but just know that they are a lot tougher than they look. They were built that way.

Crying is a natural form of communication. No, as much as it may appear so, your baby is not trying to make you crazy. However, crying is the only that he or she knows how to say, “Hey! I’m hungry!” or “Hey! I’m wet!” You will soon learn to tell the difference between the differences in your baby’s cries. Sometimes, though, they just need to “let it out” and may cry for no apparent reason. It is nerve wracking, I won’t lie to you, but it does eventually end.

Growth spurts are normal. Babies will go through periodic growth spurts and they will feed just about around the clock. You notice this most if you are breastfeeding and if so, that first growth spurt will make even the staunchest breast feeder reconsider her choice. The good news is that a growth spurt usually lasts about 24 hours, but that 24 hours can feel like a week. During a growth spurt, the baby will want to feed about every 15 minutes. Yes, it is normal and yes, it does end.

You will make mistakes. Yes, you will make mistakes and things will happen. You may drop your baby (see number 1) or you may feed him or her something that causes colic. You have many years to make lots of mistakes. Get used to it now and don’t be too hard on yourself. Many people jokingly call the first child the “practice baby.” It is funny, but in a sense it is true. After the first, the second is easier and you make fewer mistakes. The third is even better. But each child is different and you will make different mistakes on each one. Learn from them, recover and, most of all, learn to laugh.

Your baby loves your voice. Your baby’s favorite sound is the sound of your voice. Your baby also loves to look at your face. When nursing, even if bottle feeding, hold your baby close and look at him or her. During play, keep your face within their eyesight range. Talk to your baby, sing, read the stock reports. It doesn’t matter what you say, just that you say it. Soon, your baby will be cooing back at you, kicking those little feet, looking intensely into your eyes. This means that your baby is “talking” back to you. Enjoy this special time.

Are you a parent? Visit the Parenting Forums: http://parentingforums.org/

Not everyone agrees that being a stay at home mom is a great thing. Some feel that staying at home is a waste of your education and talents. But any stay at home mom knows there’s much more to the story.

As an at home mom, you have the chance to use many of your talents and your education. This is especially true in these days when being at home does not necessarily mean you don’t earn money.

But some of the things you do day to day can be pretty basic. Trips to the park. Cleaning the house. Watching the soap operas… assuming you have the time and the inclination, which not all of us do. Even then it’s not necessarily the only thing being done.

And yet there is so much you can do to share your talents with your family or the community. Your education and talents do have a purpose when you’re at home.

Volunteering is one way. You may be able to help out at your children’s school, for example. You can volunteer with a charity.

You can use your talents with your children. They can help when it’s time for homework. You can come up with projects you can do together. You can teach your children some of your skills as they get old enough.

Now obviously, not all of this will be suited to every mother. There’s nothing saying a stay at home mom has to do volunteer work or has to come up with great projects with the kids. That’s not the way these things work.

But any stay at home mom can help her children feel loved. She can encourage them to work toward their dreams. She can even show them that being at home does not mean giving up on your own dreams.

Take the time to help your children develop into capable adults. Have them help you just as you help them. That’s one of the most important things for any parent to remember.

Don’t forget to go beyond the mommy stuff. Use your time at home for you. If you’re planning on going back to work someday, keep up your skills and education as best you can. Take time off for you. Know what you are capable of and what you’re not.

You also need a good understanding with your husband. Not all relationships go smoothly with a single wage earner, and you need to think about the pitfalls before they become a problem.

Above all else, enjoy your time with your family. Being a stay at home is both a sacrifice and a blessing.

Stephanie Foster runs http://www.homewiththekids.com/ as a resource for stay at home moms. When your day allows, you can meet up with your fellow stay at home moms on her forums at http://www.homewiththekids.com/phpBB2/

Guilt. It surrounds a mother’s day pretty much no matter the choices she makes. Work outside the home? Negligent. Stay at home? Lazy.

And it just keeps coming.

No matter what you do, sometimes you have to make compromises. You may have to work outside the home so that your family has enough to eat and a roof over their heads. Or it may just keep you sane. Despite what some may say, this is not a bad thing!

That’s a point where I disagree with many of my fellow stay at home moms. Many feel a mother should stay at home if at all possible. I agree, but my definition of possible includes mom’s sanity.

Frankly, I think there are more important things for a mother to worry about than whether or not her choices meet with everyone else’s approval. Doing the best you can for your family in your own way is far more important.

Of course, that also means I don’t approve of working mothers looking down at stay at home moms. It’s real work, trust me!

One of the most important things any parent can do is to find the right balance for your family. Make enough time to be a family, without any distractions.

For the working mother, that means making sure to have enough time at home when the kids are awake. Don’t take calls relating to your job, and take the time to relax and enjoy your family. Same goes for the work at home mom.

For all moms, this means turn off the computer and the television set. You might even consider turning off all cell phones and letting the answering machine screen calls on the regular phone. Leave the laundry, dishes and other chores alone for a few hours. It won’t make that much of a difference if you get to them a little later.

Decide on something your family can do together. Try for doing something special together at least a couple times a month, if not weekly or even daily. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Playing a board game together for an hour is good. Going out for a family hike. Taking the entire day out once in a while.

It doesn’t have to be the same thing every time. Allow for a little creativity.

One of the great things about making time for your family is that it’s one of the few things you can do and not feel like someone is going to call you a poor parent. But better yet is the fun your family has and the memories you build.

Stephanie Foster runs http://www.homewiththekids.com/ as a resource for stay at home moms. Her site offers more information for stay at home moms at http://www.homewiththekids.com/lifestyle.php

A report in the Journal Pediatrics in January of 2007 by Dr. Kenneth R. Ginsburg and two committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics summed up the importance of free play in Dallas, Houston and elsewhere else in Texas to a child’s development. The report made these points:

* Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive and emotional strength.

* Play is important to brain development.

* Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles.

* Play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face challenges.

* Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate and to resolve conflicts.

* Some play must remain child-driven, with parents either not present or as passive observers. When play is child-driven, children practice decision-making, move at their own pace, discover their own areas of interest and ultimately engage fully in the passions they wish to pursue.

* When play is controlled by adults, children acquiesce to adult rules and concerns and lose some benefits of play, particularly in developing creativity, leadership and group skills.

* In contrast to passive entertainment, play builds active, healthy bodies.

* Above all, play is a simple joy that is a cherished part of childhood.

Allowing Reasonable Risks

Franklin Stone, a lawyer, community activist and former director of the nonprofit public policy group Common Good, is concerned about the effects that litigation is having on children’s access to free play.

“For fear of lawsuits, we’ve created a bubble-wrapped society,” Ms. Stone said. “Fear of litigation has resulted in the ‘dumbing down’ of playgrounds and the closing of sledding hills and hiking trails. We’ve made playgrounds immensely safe for 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, but they’re boring for 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds, who are on the streets with their skateboards.

“New playgrounds today have only bucket swings for babies, no monkey bars or high slides or seesaws,” Ms. Stone added. “Yet children are much more likely to be injured from almost everything else –from beds, pots and pans, TVs, organized sports — than they are in a playground.

“We need to re-evaluate safety guidelines to see if we’ve gone too far. And we need to consider legal protection for those who offer opportunities for play — the schools, churches and community organizations who are now afraid of being sued if a child gets hurt.”

Children have to learn to take reasonable physical and social risks if they are to become the confident grown-ups parents want them to be. If children are constantly being told not to do things because it’s too dangerous or they might get hurt, parents are teaching them that they are weak, Ms. Stone said.

Susan G. Solomon, author of “American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space,” said: “Children need a chance to take acceptable risks, learn cause and effect, make choices and see consequences. If they don’t learn to take risks, we’ll lose a generation of entrepreneurs and scientists.”

New vs. Old Ideas

A recent proposal to create playgrounds in New York City that offer sand and water and various portable objects that are overseen by a trained play worker, revives a concept that prevailed there in the 1920s and is still practiced in Europe. But it has drawn some devastating criticism from parents and others who say children don’t need adults “directing” their play.

Rhonda L. Clements, a professor of education at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., and the author of nine books on children’s play, called it an exciting and much-needed concept.

The idea, she said, has been misunderstood. Play workers don’t tell children how to play. Rather, they provide the equipment for imaginative play that gives children of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and skill levels a chance to interact with and learn from one another, unlike traditional playgrounds that are more isolating.

Also crucial, the authors of the Pediatrics report wrote, is more parent-child playtime. Some of the best interactions occur when parents work on a hobby or play sports with their children or become fully immersed in child-centered play.

Whether you’re a married individual with children or a single individual without the responsibility of parenthood, “playing” should be an important part of your daily routine. Recreation is crucial to staying fit and healthy, both physically and mentally.

Pat Carpenter writes for Precedent Insurance Company. Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at http://www.precedent.com