Want your child to respect, love you more? Psychologist shares best and worst parenting practices

What parenting style do you prefer with your child? (Picture Credit: Unsplash)

A few weeks ago, a video of a 10-year-old contestant, Ishit Bhatt, on Kaun Banega Crorepati went viral, with netizens lambasting the boy for his obnoxious and cocky behaviour. His parents too were berated for not inculcating the right values. The boy's  confidence, bordering on arrogance for some, sparked a nationwide debate: Are today’s children being raised to be too outspoken, or are we finally seeing the results of uninvolved parenting style?

Around the same time, Netflix’s Adolescence was screened in UK schools to help parents understand the complex digital world their children inhabit. The one filled with hidden online communities, hyper-connectivity, and a quiet loneliness that many teenagers now carry within themselves.

Mona Gujral, a parenting coach on Coto, shares, "As a psychologist, observing these shifts, I see both encouraging and worrying signs. Parents today are more self-aware and emotionally intelligent than ever, but given the milieu that children inhabit these days, raising them does comes with its own set of challenges."

Gujral believes that for different parents, different parenting styles may work and there's no best or worst parenting style per se. Given her day-to-day interaction with different sets of parents and children, she does give her thumbs up to certain parenting trends and thumbs down to some which she hopes is less practiced by parents.

Gujral lists best parenting trends that she thinks will help parents raise children with well-rounded personality:

1. Raising confident children who know how to articulate well
Ishit Bhatt’s assertiveness on KBC was, in many ways, a reflection of a good trend. Gone are the days when a “well-behaved child” meant silent obedience. Parents are now encouraging open dialogue and giving their children space to express themselves. Wondering how it’s positive? Well, children who are taught early on that their ideas matter, such kids are more likely to advocate for themselves, become more resilient in life, and engage meaningfully with others.

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2. Collaborative Digital Parenting
Netflix drama Adolescence highlights how parents are beginning to treat digital literacy as an essential life skill. Instead of imposing bans, more parents are choosing to explore their children’s digital worlds with curiosity, asking what they watch, how it makes them feel, and why it matters. This signals that parents are increasingly recognising that parenting isn’t just about playgrounds and grades, but also about unknown online spaces.

3. Shifting from Outcome-Based to Value-Based Parenting
In the past, parental pride revolved around grades, medals, and social recognition. Today, there’s a subtle but significant shift, as more and more parents are focusing on values like empathy, curiosity and effort. This is a very good sign, as it will help children develop more well-rounded personalities.

4. Encouraging Creativity and Self-Expression
Many children are creating content on social media. Instead of frowning upon this, some parents support children and encourage them to express themselves more freely. This is again a very good trend. It will also help strengthen parent-child relationship, where the latter won't feel the need to hide anything from the former.

5. Normalising Conversations About Emotions
Parents today are more open to talking about feelings, teaching emotional vocabulary, encouraging journaling, and expressing vulnerability. This trend fosters psychological safety at home. When children know it’s okay to express sadness, anger, or fear, they grow up emotionally regulated, empathetic, and mentally resilient.

Worst parents trends that Gujral hopes to go away

1. Children as Content
From Baby Gronk in the U.S. to Indian “kid influencers,” a growing number of parents are turning their children into online brands. Ruby Franke, the American “family vlogger,” made headlines after being convicted of child abuse following years of monetised family videos. Closer home, many Indian parents proudly feature their children in daily reels sometimes without the child’s understanding or consent. It's problematic, because the child may feel pressured to perform, to be exceptional, or to be a “star”.

2. Early Exposure Without Consent
When a five-year-old is performing trending reels for likes, it’s not just cute, it’s conditioning. The child is learning that self-worth equals more visibility. Studies show that early digital exposure can distort self-esteem and blur the concept of consent. A child cannot comprehend the permanence of the internet. Parents must pause and ask: Does my child truly understand what’s being shared about them—and can they opt out? Also, how would the child feel about all this when they grow up?3. Neglecting the child’s inner world because of distraction, busyness or screen habits
The digital age can usher parents into distraction too: phones, work, streaming. All this means having less time for establishing genuine connection with children. In Adolescence, it was shown how kids can find solace in digital world, because they feel unseen or unheard in real life. This is exactly what propels children to seek connections, or validation online.

4. Over-protecting or over-managing children’s behaviour (micromanagement)
These days parents are constantly interfering and trying to make the life of their children perfect. From planning their day, signing children up for hobby classes, to choosing their child's friends, all this can overwhelm a child. This in turn limits a child's ability to self-regulate and take risks. In short, too much micromanagement can harm the child’s emotional growth.

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5. Shaming Instead of Supporting
The backlash against Ishit Bhatt was a reminder of how quickly public judgment replaces private understanding. Thousands of adults dissected a 10-year-old’s personality on social media forgetting that he is still a child. When society and sometimes even parents over-criticise their child, the latter starts living in fear instead of learning to be accountable.

FAQs on parenting styles:

1. What are the main types of parenting styles?
The four main styles are authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved.

2. Which parenting style is considered the most effective?
The authoritative style—warm but firm—is often linked to the healthiest child outcomes.

3. Can parenting styles change over time?
Yes. Parents often adjust their style as children grow or circumstances change.

4. How does parenting style affect a child’s behavior?
Consistent, supportive parenting tends to build confidence and good self-control, while harsh or inconsistent styles can lead to anxiety or defiance.

5. What if parents have different parenting styles?
It’s common—communication and compromise help create a united approach for the child.