Parenting Styles and their Influence on Development
Parenting styles are the psychological strategies, construct that caregivers employ to help children grow and develop during infancy and when in their early childhood. Many researchers have thus come up with different arguments and opinions on the best ways for parents to rear their youngsters. As it turns out various parents have created their methods of raising their children by using a combination of factors in their homes and their surrounding environments (Kiuru, Mullola, Zarra-Nezhad, & Moazami-Goodarzi, 2015) . However, the parenting styles that a caregiver uses are often influenced by the temperament of the child and the parent, tradition, the upbringing of the caregiver and culture.
How a parent responds to or disciplines their child significantly impact both their social and cognitive development. Since the development of a child is primarily influenced by a combination of various stimuli that he or she may come across, both with the environment and with multiple individuals, the way a parent fixes their presence on a child's life determines whether their development will be positive or negative.
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Authoritarian Parenting
Parents who practice this kind of parenting style often demand total cooperation from their children and therefore do not tolerate questions of breaking of rules. They usually expect their children to have a higher degree o maturity, although communication between parent and child is limited. Therefore, children with authoritarian parents stay out of many troubles and attain good grades. However, this parenting style affects their social development as a result of not being encouraged to have their own opinions, a factor that makes them shy and in constant worry of disappointing the parents (Kiuru, Mullola, Zarra-Nezhad, & Moazami-Goodarzi, 2015) . Children who undergo this kind of parenting style often are emotionally dysfunctional, which is reflected in their poor emotion regulation strategies and aggression.
Authoritative Parenting
Among all other parenting styles, this style has been found to effectively aid in ensuring that a child development process is healthy as they are taught to follow the rules, have their own opinions and ask any questions. For instance, researchers from Louisiana State University who conducted a study on how various parenting styles influence the cognitive development of a child found that the cognitive development of a child is positively correlated with having both parents who are authoritative. Consequently, the social development o children are also promoted through this parenting style since communication is welcomed, a factor that makes the children more comfortable in other social institutions and with their peers. When it comes to the emotional development of a child, research has found that this kind of parenting style is predictive of more developed emotional functioning in children over time, for instance, empathy (Kiuru, Mullola, Zarra-Nezhad, & Moazami-Goodarzi, 2015) .
Uninvolved Parenting
This kind of parenting style is associated with parents who are ambivalent of the needs and wants of their children. Uninvolved parents often neglect and abuse their children. Even though there are no demands or rules set for the child, the parent still does not allow communication and does not encourage their child. Since these parents are physically and psychologically unavailable to their children, all aspects of a child’s development are negatively affected (Kiuru, Mullola, Zarra-Nezhad, & Moazami-Goodarzi, 2015) . The social growth of the child is stunted as they are not taught how to act around people, and thus often feel awkward in social situations. Moreover, the cognitive development of the child is also negatively affect ed s they lack emotional and psychological connections.
Indulgent Parenting
Parents who employ this kind of parenting style mostly focus more on being their child’s friend than being a disciplinary figure. According to researchers, there is an extensive amount of communication between the parent and the child although the level of maturity and demands required of the child is minimal. Children with indulgent parents have better social skills, higher self-esteem and low levels of depression, factors that aid in their positive social developments. However, the decreased level of maturity and independence mostly harms the emotional development of the child as they are not required to grow in this area.
Comparison of Caregivers and their influence on Development
For children to efficiently develop, they need love, protection, and support of their parents. To accomplish this, parents have to decide on the type of care giving that fits their child. For instance, a parent may settle on daycare or stay-at-home care giving structure for their child. Although these two are different in many ways, they all benefit the child.
According to research, daycare as care giving structure is useful as it stimulates the social and intellectual development of a child. In this setting, children get to interact with their peers, and with daycare staff members who are mainly trained in early childhood development (Pesoa, Ramos, & Seidl-de-Moura, 2014) . Since these facilities are certified, they offer various types of activities that are educative for the children thus helping the children to acquire better language and cognitive skills while growing up. However, daycare facilities are costly and therefore may not be affordable for every parent. According to research, the lack of quality, affordable childcare negatively impacts the development of a child.
Moreover, daycare facilities may not be available for children who are sick or those with special needs. Additionally, daycare staff members are tasked with caring for more than one child thus dividing attention between children (Pesoa, Ramos, & Seidl-de-Moura, 2014) . Moreover, children in day care facilities often do not get to know their parents well especially if the parents have busy schedules.
On the other hand, some parents would prefer to stay at home and care for their children. By being a stay-at-home, a parent will have a sense of self-satisfaction and pride in knowing that their child is getting quality care and the required attention. In this setting, parent get to bond more with their children as they witness all the developmental milestones that their child is going through (Pesoa, Ramos, & Seidl-de-Moura, 2014) . According to studies on caregivers, a mother who stays at home are more adept at providing better care to their children than a mother who works. However, one setback with the stay-at-home care giving is that it does not provide for children to interact and socialize with other kids of their age. Additionally, for stay-at-home parents to properly take care of their children, they have to stop working. As it turns out when taking care of a child as a stay-at-home parent, career drives have to be postponed, a factor that eventually affects families financially and emotionally since one of the parents will be unable to fulfill his or her career goals.
How Early Childhood has evolved and its Impact on Cognitive Development
The provision of early childhood education can be traced back to the mid-1800s when private kindergartens were developed in homes. However, it was not until the 1920s that in-depth studies on early childhood education were conducted. The first study to be undertaken on early childhood was done by Jean Piaget who defined various stages involved in the development of a child (Ramey & Ramey, 2002) . During the 1960s, programs Head Start programs were developed with the help of Bronfrenb renner Urie to help prepare youngsters for kindergarten. This development mainly was to provide quality education for children to encourage their cognitive development through the provision of a low child to adult ratio coupled with hands-on activities, and professional support staff and teachers (Ramey & Ramey, 2002) . During 1980s, more women started entering the workforce thus contributing to the rise in single working parents. During this period, early childhood classrooms were places that children spent half of their days five times a week to paint, develop skills, read and learn to socialize. However, as more extended day care programs emerged, studies on early childhood education were further analyzed to determine the type of learning that takes place in this setting. This societal shift in early childhood education increased standards in this educational setting.
The cognitive development of a child during early childhood such as the building of communication skills often begins at birth. According to research, the brain of a child acquires a large amount of information on language in their first year of life even before they can speak (Ramey & Ramey, 2002) . During the period that they understand or utter their first words, they already know the particular sounds their languages employ, the sounds that can be combined to create words, and the tempo and rhythms of the words and phrases that they use (Bush, 2005) . The type of development that a child undergoes in their early life directly influences their later success in life. For instance, infants that are good at distinguishing the building blocks of speech at six months can easily understand complex language skills at year two and three and are consequently good at acquiring learning skills at year four and five (Bush, 2005) . More importantly, the knowledge that a child has of the alphabet in kindergarten influences their tenth grade reading abilities. Providing a child with an environment that is rich in language, literacy interactions and opportunities to listen to and continuously use language to allow them to acquire essential building blocks for learning how to read.
References
Bush, G. W. (2005). The Importance of Early Childhood Cognitive Development. Retrieved from The White House: https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/earlychildhood/sect2.html
Kiuru, N., Mullola, S., Zarra-Nezhad, M., & Moazami-Goodarzi, A. (2015). Parenting Styles and Children's Emotional Development during the First Grade: The Moderating Role of Child Temperament. Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy .
Pessoa, L. F., Ramos, D. d., & Seidl-de-Moura, M. (2014). Beliefs of Mothers, Nannies, Grandmothers and Daycare Providers Concerning Childcare / Crenças de Mães, Avós, Babás e Educadoras Sobre Cuidado de Bebês. Paideia (Ribeirao Preto) , 24 (59), 341-349.
Ramey, C. T., & Ramey, S. L. (2002, April 30). Early Childhood Education: From Efficacy Research to Improved Practice. Retrieved from U.S. Department of Education: https://www2.ed.gov/teachers/how/early/cognitivedevsummit02/page_pg2.html
