Parenthood Movie Analysis

Throughout the movie, Parenthood, the three main parenting styles were displayed throughout as, the dictator, permissive, and democratic. The dictator form of parenting, also known as the authoritarian parent sets strict rules and guidelines and will not changing them or give any leeway. Children that have authoritarian parents usually have low self-esteem and trouble to do things on their own when they get older. Then there is the permissive parent, who rather than setting rules and guidelines, opts out of this, their discipline is not seen and if they do set rules, they don 't punish when the rules are broken. There is also a balance of good parenting seen in the democratic form. Parents like this set rules and guidelines but are not too strict

Helen was another parent in the movie, she was a single mother raising her eldest Julie, and Gary her youngest. She displays the permissive parent styling in that she had rules but did not punish when it came to the rules being broken. For example, Julie threatened to drop out of school and when she did that Helen said she couldn’t live in her house anymore, so Julie left but Helen begged her to come back. Not only does this show the permissive parent styling, but it also shows Julie that her mom is not able to make basic rules and stick by them, so she’s able to walk all over her. Then, Gary is affected by this parent style due to the fact that Helen is trying to raise these two alone, without a male figure in his life and he doesn’t feel as though he can talk to her since he is the only male in the house, and it feels like his dad doesn 't want him since he started his new family. Also, her permissive behavior is seen when she finds the pictures Julie and Todd took while being intimate, and although she was in a state of shock, no punishment was made and Julie was off the hook yet again. Throughout Parenthood, different approaches are made to parenting and each parent seemed to be worried that their method was not doing their kids well. I believe that the democratic styling is the best method to teaching children proper ways of functioning when they get older. With this method, the child will eventually learn how to be respectful and understand boundaries that will help