MOM vs. DAD.(parenting techniques)

Why your different parenting styles are actually good for your kids

After a girls' get-away weekend, my friend and I returned to her usually orderly home-now a housekeeping disaster. Dirty dishes were crammed in the sink, pizza boxes and empty soda cans littered the countertops. Clothes, toys, books, and shoes were everywhere.

Her children greeted her half-heartedly, "Back so soon?" Their forlorn looks were telling. They knew: Party's over!

With gritted teeth, my friend hissed, "Why does he get to be all fun and games and I've got to be the drill sergeant who gets everyone back on track?"

My friend and her husband are not the only parenting duo who've discovered significant differences in their parenting styles. Maybe you know Drill Sergeant Dan who's married to Permissive Pam. Bedtime at their house is bedlam. Dan roars at the top of his lungs, "You kids get to bed and you get to sleep now! I don't care if you're thirsty, hungry, or scared. I don't want to hear another sound." Pam, …