Children Listening - Authoritative Parenting

Patti Cancellier: Hi! I am Patti Cancellier, the Education Coordinator and a Parent Educator for the Parent Encouragement Program. I am talking about why children don't listen. And now we'll discuss why the authoritarian and permissive approaches don't work with kids. So if we can't use the authoritarian approach because of the change in our society and the permissive approach doesn't work either, how do we get kids to do what needs to be done. Well, there is a third option. We call it democratic parenting, but I have to say that term scares parents. They think it means their children can vote them out of office, but it doesn't. It's a style of parenting that prepares children for life in a democratic society. There's another name for it, which is authoritative parenting. It is both firm with good well thought out limits and boundaries, and friendly. There's some freedom in choice within limits, and freedom comes with responsibility. So it's not freedom to do anything you want to do because that would infringe on the rights of others. It's freedom within limits. Rules and limits are created to solve problems and to train children to be responsible and to be able to live cooperatively. So next, I'll share with you tips and techniques from the democratic or authoritative parenting that will enable you to solve the problem of parent deafness and lack of cooperation from your children.