The psychology topic that I will remember most later in life is parenting styles and punishment. When you walk through a store, you may come across children crying and screaming over a toy or candy bar; some parents yell at their kids, some spank, some give in, and some ignore them. There has been long discussion and debates on what type of parenting style is best in the upbringing of a child. There are four parenting styles based on Baumrind's observations: permissive, authoritarian, authoritative, and uninvolved. Looking back on my childhood, I feel that my parents exceled at authoritative style. They gave me good strict guidelines, however let me explore and support me throughout my life. I feel that no two families could parent in the exact same way. The four parenting styles are just a very broad illustration of what the parenting styles could look like. Even though authoritative parenting style is said to be the best, I do not believe that is true for every child. Each child and family comes with their own circumstances, and styles may work differently with some children. Children learn and grow in their own way and parents should react to them specifically. The book describes how some authors refer to parenting styles as "too hard", "too soft", and "just right". As a parent, how will you know what is "just right"? 
Parenting Styles
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Well written article. I agree with you that no one parenting style is best for all situations. I think that as long as you stay away from the extremes of any parenting style you're doing the best you can.
I liked your blog entry! I find parenting styles to be interesting as well, so it was cool seeing what you had to say about this topic. It's crazy to think about when we are older and many of us will have families, that each parent will have a specific parenting style. I hope that in the future I have a good one!
This topic will definitely be relevant five years from now as we will have or start having families of our own. I am interested to see how our parenting styles will differ from our parents--as we get older and wiser will we want to protect our kids, or give them the freedom we wanted at our age now?
I definitely agree with you! I think deciding what's wrong or right with parenting can have a lot to do with the environment the kids are being raised in as well. Reading this also made me think of how this topic will stick with me as I grow up and have a family of my own as well. It makes me think of how lucky I was growing up too!
I agree that not one parenting style is better then the others. Depending on how your child will react to a situation will determine what course of action to take. While growing up my mom played more of a permissive but stern parent role. She would let me do what I wanted as long as I let her know what I was up to. It gave me free range to find out what was right to do and what was wrong on my own. She was stern when she needed to be when I got in trouble so that it wouldn't happen again. Overall I enjoyed reading your blog, it was very well put.
Good article and I personally agree with you in the fact that how can you know one right parenting style from another? Sure some experts might say one is better than the other but maybe your personality or even the child's personality might be better used with a different one? It will be something interesting to look forward to in the future!
Great post! Parenting style is always a interesting topic to talk about because everyone was raised differently, and like you said, different styles work best for different children. Part of the reason parenting is so stressful is because raising a child is full of ups and downs,and the struggle to prepare a child for life while wanting to give a child the world! I recently traveled to Paris, and the parenting style in France was much different from the United States; in France, children are raised knowing that their parents will have their own free time to enjoy themselves. In the United States, parent's lives revolve around their children. Cultural differences in parenting is also an interesting topic to explore.
I definitely agree that no single style of parenting where you read out of a book and follow specific directions is best for everyone. That is not the way it should be. I think it is funny too how we all used to (at least most of my friends and I) say that we would never punish our children or we would be the "cool parents." Now that I reminisce on that, I do believe if I tried to be a cool parent all through my child's life that they would end up being spoiled children.
While it is true that there are defined categories of parenting styles most, if not all, families fit neatly into just one of them. As kids grow and mature they develop their own morals and personalities that in return are reflected in the decisions they make, and as we all know the correct decisions aren't usually the ones being made my adolescents. With that said, it is clear why a flexible parenting style can be crucial. I myself will most likely adopt my own parents style because I feel that at times I found it annoying but in the long run it helped my develop into the confident and strong young adult that I am today.
I believe that you are right in that each family is different and you can't just say one method works for everyone. I would also say that my parents are authoritative. However, to prove that everyone is different, both my brother and I turned out differently. I am much more of the co-operative type whereas he is more the rebellious type. This is proof that one method does not work for every child, even if they are in the same family!