Growing up my parents had high expectations of me, but were understanding and kind if I didn’t live up to them, which is addressed in questions 3 and 9. They respected and valued my independence as well. The authoritative technique is illustrated by high levels of warmth and responsiveness, like permissive parenting. However, authoritative parenting is also accompanied by high levels of demand. Authoritative parenting has been shown to produce the best results out of the four parenting styles. Children raised with this technique display higher academic performance, higher self-esteem, better social skills, and less behavioural problems. As a teenager, I was very confident in my abilities and did very well in school. As my parents demonstrated, parenting techniques and beliefs can change over time and adapt to each child as an …show more content…
The bidirectional effect occurs when a caregiver and child influence each other’s behaviour. The parenting technique that is used can influence the child. On the contrary, the child’s characteristics and actions can impact their parent’s behaviour. For instance, as a teenager Lindsay was very cold towards my parents and refused to follow the rules given to her, which is addressed in question 5. As a result, my parents paid more attention to what she was doing wrong than what she was doing right. She received more punishments for her poor behaviour and did not receive many rewards for positive behaviour. In comparison, as teenager I was very confident and always tried to depict the perfect child. Although this ideal model child cannot really exist, I strived to be everything my parents wanted. Since I always listened to them and avoided scolding, I received many rewards and only the occasional punishment. My parents were more relaxed and did not worry about me like they did about Lindsay. In essence, the difference in our behaviours elicited different responses in our parents’ attitude towards us. The reason my siblings and I have resulted in such a diverse group of adults is likely due to, not only the different treatments we received from our parents, but to the different environments we were exposed