11 ms·

"The most effective parents, according to the authors, are “authoritative.” They use reasoning to persuade kids to do things that are good for them. Instead of

"The most effective parents, according to the authors, are “authoritative.” They use reasoning to persuade kids to do things that are good for them. Instead of strict obedience, they emphasize adaptability, problem-solving and independence — skills that will help their offspring in future workplaces that we can’t even imagine yet." Aside: Knowing nothing about theoretical parenting styles, this doesn't sound "authoritative". Authoritative <anything> wouldn't give you sound reasoning. Authoritative sounds like strict obedience, given that they are practically synonyms but the article says the opposite.

pjc50 8y ago
No, that's authoritarian, which the article contrasts.
- nitrogen 8y ago
  I'm sure the field has its own jargon and that's fine, but for a lay audience it seems like "persuasive" or "rationally supportive" or "educating" would be more clear than "authoritative".
  - germinalphrase 8y ago
    They may be borrowing these terms from educational psychology where they are indeed used exactly this way.
  - Loughla 8y ago
    Is authoritarian and authoritative exclusively educational psychology and child development jargon alone? I'm honestly asking because I work and am steeped in education. It seems to me that anyone educated would be able to draw a line between authoritarian and authoritative just based on context clues from society (that's not meant to be as condescending as it might sound). Am I wrong?
    - akovaski 8y ago
      > Is authoritarian and authoritative exclusively [...] jargon alone? I'd say so, doing an internet search for "authoritarian vs authoritative" yields almost exclusively parenting articles. In general, I think authoritarian is used for "you must do what I tell you" rule (governments, due the vocab word authoritarianism), and authoritative is used for "this is for sure the right way" objects and concepts (papers, sources, statements). The definition I have for authoritarian lines up with the parenting style, but authoritative does not line up so well. My opinion from the outside is that it is not clear. They share the same root word from which their meanings derive; I'd assume they were talking about the same parenting style if it wasn't directly pointed out. If you applied these adjectives to Software Development or some other field, I would be hard-pressed to determine a clear distinction.
    - pj_mukh 8y ago
      I'm only now catching the nuanced difference between "authoritative" (which almost means "guiding") than authoritarian. Easy mix up from a PR perspective.

pjc50 8y ago

No, that's authoritarian, which the article contrasts.

nitrogen 8y ago
I'm sure the field has its own jargon and that's fine, but for a lay audience it seems like "persuasive" or "rationally supportive" or "educating" would be more clear than "authoritative".
- germinalphrase 8y ago
  They may be borrowing these terms from educational psychology where they are indeed used exactly this way.
- Loughla 8y ago
  Is authoritarian and authoritative exclusively educational psychology and child development jargon alone? I'm honestly asking because I work and am steeped in education. It seems to me that anyone educated would be able to draw a line between authoritarian and authoritative just based on context clues from society (that's not meant to be as condescending as it might sound). Am I wrong?
  - akovaski 8y ago
    > Is authoritarian and authoritative exclusively [...] jargon alone? I'd say so, doing an internet search for "authoritarian vs authoritative" yields almost exclusively parenting articles. In general, I think authoritarian is used for "you must do what I tell you" rule (governments, due the vocab word authoritarianism), and authoritative is used for "this is for sure the right way" objects and concepts (papers, sources, statements). The definition I have for authoritarian lines up with the parenting style, but authoritative does not line up so well. My opinion from the outside is that it is not clear. They share the same root word from which their meanings derive; I'd assume they were talking about the same parenting style if it wasn't directly pointed out. If you applied these adjectives to Software Development or some other field, I would be hard-pressed to determine a clear distinction.
  - pj_mukh 8y ago
    I'm only now catching the nuanced difference between "authoritative" (which almost means "guiding") than authoritarian. Easy mix up from a PR perspective.