SFL #4

SFL 240 Response #4 Authoritative Parenting
During this class I have realized that I need to think be thinking about what type of parent I want to be even though I am single and have no children. I have always loved children, and I felt like parenting would come natural to me. Personally, I still believe that there are so many things about parenting that can never be conveyed in a classroom to single adults with pens and pencils in their hands and text books in their back packs. Do you want to be a parent who loves their child, teaches their children to regulate themselves, and does not have to be aggressive and overbearing on punishments and reinforcements? That sounds just about right. Who really in their right mind would not want to be an authoritative parent? I don’t think that is what makes it difficult to be an authoritative parent though. There are several things that I have learned in this class some things that I will never ever do, things that I want to change, and even things that I am going to do for sure.
That brings me to the next thing that I learned, I learned that I do not have to parent my children the same way that my parents parented me. Not only do I not have to be the same parent to my child that my parents were to me, but it is logically impossible if I want to be an authoritative parent. It seems that the key ingredient to an authoritative parent is that they are so acutely aware of their child that they adjust. In turn the child learns to adjust their life to the parents. It is based on a relationship and not on a dictator ship.
After taking this class I have started a list of things that I never going to do and at the top is that I am not going to spank my children. I was spanked as a child, and honestly I have never really thought much about the concept besides that sometimes children get spanked. First of I will never deny that my parents love me, and that they taught me very well.