Authoritarian Parents

Authoritarian parents get precisely what they deserve: children who do everything they can to resist the control exerted from above and rebel in various, unpredictable ways, including but not limited to failing all their classes as a deliberate rebuke to their parents’ demands. Suppose you have an Authoritarian parent or know someone who does. You should know what those parents expect from their child. Authoritarian parents have really high expectations from their children; they fight for their children to succeed in their field. My aunt is an example of an Authoritarian parent. I remember talking to my cousins, and they said their mom is really strict and doesn’t play any games when it comes to academics, there are no excuses when they receive a specific grade, and if they do receive a bad grade, they receive many backlashes.

To go more in-depth about Authoritarian parents. They expect their child never to follow whatever they tell them; their no discussion. Many parents choose this style, but their many reasons for it; for example, it could be because of their morals and culture or because their parents brought them up that way, and that’s the only way they know how to teach their child. It might be an endless chain, but if you trust this type of parent style, here are some of the rules that they teach. For instance that parents like that think having obedience from their child is a form of love.

Tracy Traunter from Michigan State University stated, “Having strict rules that must be followed. Children are punished if rules are not followed. Punishment is usually harsh and punitive. It can become abusive, physically and emotionally” and “There is typically no give and take, and will exert complete and total control over the family.” Personally, I don’t support these types of parenting styles because it’s unhealthy and can hurt your child in many ways. I understand that these types of parents want their children to succeed but teach your child differently. There is a negative side effect to Authoritarian parents; here are some of the outcomes stated by Tracy Traunter from Michigan State University. “Children are aggressive, but can also be socially inept, shy and cannot make their own decisions,” and “Children in these families have poor self-esteem, are poor judges of character, and will rebel against authority figures when they are older.” Your child could also struggle to think for themselves when their older if they told what to do every day like this by their parents. They can also have some difficulties expressing themselves to other people; this parenting type can really mess up a child mentally. Authoritarian parents’ problem is that they don’t express their feelings to their children, especially when they don’t meet their expectations and that horrible. I understand that your child has to follow the rules you have placed in your household, but if they end up making a mistake, you should sit down and explain to them what they did, don’t just always punish them severely. Your child can end up hating you later in the future. Researches have done experiments on Authoritarian parenting styles and found out that those types of kids have a chance of performing horribly.

Rachel Sawicki wrote an article about her experience growing up as an Authoritarian parent. She describes how she lost many companions, was in and out of relationships and didn’t enjoy spending time with her family. As she goes mire into her story, she describes her mom and says that she was an Authoritarian parent and taught her everything she knows right now. She remembers always getting yelled at for small mistakes that genuinely weren’t that serious. One of the moments she vividly remembers was when she chose to dress up for dinner one night because she enjoyed dressing up, and thought she would get some happy faces and flattery from everyone, but she got in trouble for not being on time for dinner. Rachel Sawicki stated that her mom shouted at her these words, “Why would you put that on before dinner? There’s no need to get dressed up. That outfit is uncalled for, go and take it off right now,” my mom yelled. I cried the rest of the night.” Rachel Sawicki went more in and described her middle school days and said her phone was confiscated every other day of the week if she even made a little mistake and her mother would go through her phone and scold her anything unrefined; she would we send to her peers that were only supposed to be seen by her and her schoolmate. During her highschool life, Rachel came out bi, and she described how hard it was for her to fit in school; her mother made her stay away from her friends and took her electronics away for around six months, and she was watched ber mother for close to a year after she returned everything to her. Rachel Sawicki stated that those experiences made her life horrible she said, “I was extremely suicidal and wanted to run away. Not once did my mom ever ask me why I felt the way I did nor did she listen when I tried to explain. I was wrong and she was right, end of story”. She never wanted to go to therapy because she thought it was a form of torture her mom wanted to do to her. This story by Rachel Sawicki is an example of the negative side effects of an Authoritarian parent. This type of parenting can lead your child to be depressed and have social anxiety.

I know there are some negative side effects of Authoritarian parenting like depression and social anxiety-like in my previous paragraph and their positive outcomes about Authoritarian parenting; I hope you just make sure you show your love and connect with them emotionally.

References

Tracy Trautner, Michigan State University Extension. “Authoritarian Parenting Style.” MSU Extension, 20 Sept. 2018, www.canr.msu.edu/news/authoritarian_parenting_style. 

Sawicki, Rachel. “Personal Essay: I’m Not Angry, I Just Have Authoritarian Parents.” The Review, 5 Mar. 2020, udreview.com/personal-essay-im-not-angry-i-just-have-authoritarian-parents/.