Baumrind's studies have been a catalyst for further research on parenting styles and in many cases, are just as relevant in today's society as they were during the 1960's. However, times have certainly changed since since then and children have different demands while parents have to cope with a technology-driven society.

Is it fair to say parents today are not allowed to be as hands on with their children as they were 40 years ago? Let's face it, work pressures and demands, particularly in western culture dictate families must be two income producers, with both mom and dad required to produce income which in turn, has led to a substantial increase in the requirement of day care facilities especially for pre-school age children.

How many parents reading this article can confirm their child spent nearly as much time under the care of a guardian as they did with them simply because circumstance prevented them from parenting the child 24 hours a day. I know I can and that was back in the late 1980's.

So what effect has this had on the child who has basically had to adjust to differing parenting styles before they started school? In my case, I found the time my child spent with my wife and I and the time he spent with his nanny actually worked wonders as it had a rapid and effective result on his early development. The style of parenting he received from his nanny ( let's face it, for three years she was like a second mom ) actually reinforced our authoritative approach, as established by Baumrind, and we are now reaping the rewards of a well adjusted kid.

Authoritative Parenting

In essence, an authoritative parent allows their child a certain amount of freedom, encouraging independence but still maintaining high control. By combining the warmth factor as described by Baumrind, a parent is able to maintain high demands with responsive emotion and a great respect for a child's autonomy.

Authoritarian Parenting

Parents who are too strict with their children run the risk of their child becoming reliant on authority. In other words, unable to make decisions for themselves for several reasons the most notable being because they may have a fear of doing so simply because they will be looking for approval.

Parenting is not an easy task and those who enter it thinking it is are kidding themselves. Parenting styles can go a lot deeper than just authoritative and authoritarian however, by keeping it relatively simple such as maintaining high control yet encouraging independence and autonomy makes good sense to this author.