Marriage is the beginning; the beginning of the family, and a commitment for life. If you are married, you may also have experienced the importance of marriage and its benefits or maybe you find marriage difficult. How a couple deals with them often determines whether their relationship collapses or stays firm. When a couple has a child, it is one of life’s greatest blessings. You and your spouse may have different parenting styles and that can lead to numerous conflicts over how to raise your children. In reality, different parenting styles may lead to significant marital issues and great stress for children.

Different parenting styles can affect the marriage

If you and your spouse have different parenting styles, your children will likely be aware of this and attempt to exploit it. When your kids hear contradictory signals, inconsistent parenting approaches can confuse them.

For instance, if an authoritarian parent punishes a child for breaking the rules and the child’s permissive parent completely ignores the punishment, the child may become frustrated. They may be oblivious of the significance of the rule they broke and may not adhere to it in the future. Disputes around parenting are a common issue for couples with conflicting parenting practices. You may find it challenging to conduct talks about your children and how you intend to raise them. Different parenting styles can lead to disagreements between partners, but there are steps you can take to lessen this and create common ground.

Different parenting styles/approaches

There are four primary styles of parenting. These characteristics include authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and apathetic.

1. Authoritarian parents have tight rules and penalties. They think that children should be respectful and compliant with their instructions. They often have numerous regulations with heavy penalties.

2. Authoritative parents have effective rules that they expect their children to follow. Nonetheless, they are more versatile. In contrast, they are loving and forgiving when rules are disobeyed.

3. Permissive parents are lenient and place little demands on their children. They have minimal expectations about their children’s self-control and emotional stability. They are loving, talkative, and tolerant with their child, acting more like a friend than a parent.

4. Apathetic parents have little expectations for their children and impose few demands on them. This parenting style is defined by a lack of engagement in their children’s lives.

 Learn how to parent and not let that affect the marriage in part 2