Permissiveness

Conditions where parents attempt to exercise only minimum control over the child's behavior. The rules, proscriptions, and prescriptions that parents impose on children include only the barest controls needed for safety and physical health. Sometimes little attempt is made to enforce the few rules or restrictions that do exist. Parents are non-directive about much of what the child does. These parents are willing to allow children to do things their own way. Decisions about the child are usually dependent on the child's own will, whim, or desires about the matter. (See the control dimension of parenting; PCS)