– Parenting styles are commonly classified in three categories: authoritarian, permissive (or indulgent), and structured (or authoritative). In her book “Kids Are Worth It! Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline,” Barbara Coloroso uses interesting metaphors to describe those three different methods: the brick wall, jellyfish and backbone families.
– The brick wall family is certainly the less children’s friendly. Order, control and obedience are key in this category in which strict rules are reinforced by threats and bribes. At the other extreme, in the jellyfish family, emotions rule the behavior of parents and children and there is no structure, rules or consistency. Last but not least, the backbone family is somewhere in the middle. Discover in the original article the six critical messages parents send to their children depending on the way they treat them.
Image: First steps, by Vincent van Gogh, after Millet (Wikipedia - w/Effects)
