1. Introduction

There is a saying that if a parent spares the rod, then they spoil the child. However, what would happen if a parent uses the rod too much on their child? Is it okay for a parent to use certain control tactics on their kids? In the harsh world of parenting, this question brings forth both controversy and ignorance. For instance, ABC's show, What Would You Do discussed a topic related to Amy Chua and her novel, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. ABC's John Quinones hosted a scenario in which an uptight mother harshly punished her daughter for receiving an A minus on a test (See fig. 1).



 Fig. 1. Tiger Mother Rips Into Kid Over A-minus-What Would You Do-ABC News." Youtube.com. Youtube. 30 August,2011. web. 10 Feb. 2012.

The word that perfectly describes this scenario is called authoritarian parenting. However, do authoritarian parents have the ability to raise a healthy, well balanced child? According to the table provided below, there are four different parenting styles. Please bring your attention to the higher level of the demanding side and the lower level of the responsive side. The table shows that the autocratic, in other words, the authoritarian parenting style, demands highercontrol and gives lower responses with less warmth and care. On the other hand, the authoritative parenting style demands higher control and gives higher responses with warmth and care in turn (See table 1).

Table 1. A level of determining the demandingness and responsiveness in each parenting style.

Source: The Four Parenting Styles Graph. Graph. Extension.umn.edu. University of Minnesota. n.d. web. 9 Feb. 2012.

Therefore, parents should consider using the authoritative parenting style rather than the authoritarian parenting style.