Parents are most effective when working side-by-side to deal with misbehaviour

When approaching how to deal with misbehaviour, it's important that different parenting styles align, writes Helen O'Callaghan

There is a difference between authoritarian and authorative parenting

An 11-year-old child steals from the local shop. He is caught on CCTV. For the parents, it is highly stressful — not least because they each have a different perspective on how to deal with it.

Mum says it’s so unlike him, so something must be going on. She talks calmly to the child, asking, ‘What was going on for you? You didn’t need this thing — don’t we give you enough?’