Slow? Koala? Crunchy? Your guide to the wild world of parenting styles

Key Facts

In the 1960s, researchers developed a typology of four styles of parenting, based on the levels of support and control that parents exhibited: Research since then has backed the authoritative style, which combines high expectations with a willingness to meet a child’s needs.
Nowadays, however, the four scientific parenting styles are often eclipsed by the more colloquial terms — a seemingly endless parade of new monikers coined by parents and experts.
Nancy Darling, a professor of psychology at Oberlin College who has researched parenting styles, said that in the past, a mother (and it was mostly mothers) “was seen to have expertise.
With that kind of pressure, parenting styles — and the debates that come with them — may get even more creative and colorful.