Parenting style and its implications on the mental health

Parenting is a complex activity that includes many specific behaviours that work individually or together to influence child outcomes. It prepares the child to enter into the next phase of life. Today’s child is gripped with multitude of stresses such as making career choices, attending to schools (regular and tuition), forging a social identity, acquiring social skills to establish meaningful relationships, especially with the opposite sex; choosing a partner, establishing an appropriate sexual identity etc. He/she is expected to excel in his academic pursuits, face stiff competition and make a career. This is despite the deteriorating school standards, the low quota of jobs, increasing corruption; multiple distractions such as TV, computer, video games, internet and ambiguous messages from teachers, parents, society at large and mass media. Mounting parental pressure and economic constraints, nuclearisation of families, rising number of working mothers and women’s equal rights movement, have added to the problems. The mental healths as well as the general health professionals are responsible for providing important and useful counselling and information to the parents regarding parenting. The current article sites some important aspects of positive parenting style.