5 Things You Need to Know About the Strict Father Model
1. Parenting With Discipline
Strict father models resemble the fathers of "Leave It to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best." The motto could easily be "Self-sacrifice and discipline is the best way of life." A strict rule of right and wrong with no deviation guides the strict father model. Mothers have the day-to-day job of running the house but the father is the breadwinner and doles out both praise and discipline for all family members.
2. Birth of a Conservative
Strict father models tend to produce children who are conservative in nature. Dramatic social change is not a virtue in this type of role model, and neither is independent thinking. A crying baby receives no coddling but is left to cry himself to sleep and a hungry child gets no change in her scheduled feeding. The child receives a punishment for any transgression and only gets praise for adhering to the rules.
3. The Strict Father Model and Abortion
The strict father model feels that the outside world has many evils to fight. Internal evil in the nature of desires are just as dangerous to the family unit and child. There is little room for pleasure unless it comes in the form of self-sacrifice and discipline. Abortion is a moral issue that the strict father model sees as unthinkable. The first reason is that the concept of abortion itself is wrong for the strict father model. The second involves the doling out of punishment. Those unwed teenagers who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy are immoral in the first place and must pay the consequences.
4. The Mother in a Strict Model Father Family
The mother in a strict father model family is subordinate to the father. Though she gets to make decisions like which margarine to buy, the father has the final say. Praise and disappointment from the father figure affect the mother just as they do the child. Feminism is not encouraged and a strict father in the workplace seldom sees a female candidate as a viable choice for a managerial position
5. Merge the Nurturant Parent Model and the Strict Father Model
Most psychologists agree that families benefit from some of the beliefs of the strict father model. The problem, as with any model for parents, is that there must be adjustments for differences in children and human compassion. Neither the strict father model nor its opposite, the nurturant parent model, is ideal when going by the book. Each one needs something from the other side. Discipline is necessary even in the most permissive of homes and love and support needs to accompany discipline and morality.
Member Comments
by Kwick-nuzzle on October 31, 2009 at 2:31 PM
What NEGATIVE Bi*&( wrote this??? I just read a constructive article on the pitfalls of 'PERMISSIVE PARENTING', then saw this item. AGAIN, some selfish (*&^% that hates men is advocating the destruction of a human being. Women can eliminate 50% of the competition for their sole authority to RULE THE WORLD by stripping any male of responsibility, authority, respect, or parenting rights. It's a 'spiritual smack-down'. Solid parenting philosophy advocates structure and discipline in family life to prepare a child for adulthood. Writers of articles like this (a link on the same web-site as the 'anti-permissive' article) either DENY the existence of all commonly successful family and parenting ideas; or, wants to destroy 'man'kind by LABELING them as evil if they enjoy the idea of family. If a man takes an active role in any structure, discipline, organization or decision making in a family he is labeled as a control freak that disrespects women. Why does this writer insinuate that a father is disrespectful if he wants to participate in nurtuing and preparing children for life? Why does this writer imply that a man is 'anti-feminist', derrogatory, controlling and hateful if he wants to participate in decision and rule making in his own home. This article implys that WOMEN should be rulers of the working world AND the family. Men should have no voice in raising their kids. My wife DOES have 80% of the active interface with our kids because of my work shift. When she reads crap like this (or her divorce-advocate, femin-nazi girlfriends read it, add their negative spin and ten share with her) it tells her that I must be reduced to nothingness with my own children because one-thousand years ago some "man" only allowed his wife to choose her butter vendor.