It is always interesting to me to learn more about the influence we as parents have on our children and their behaviour.  I hope you take the time to read this article entitled, Parenting Styles and It's Correlates. 

A brief summary of the article follows:

Developmental Psychologists stydying the influence parents have on the development of their children, commonly explore the same four styles of parenting.  These four styles include Indulgent, Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Uninvolved. 

Indulgent:  More a friend than a parent, this parent does not place high demands on the child and avoids confrontation.

Authoritarian:  This parent has very high expectations for the child and expects orders to be followed without question.

Authoritative:  This parent has high demands but allows the child to suffer natural consequences.  Is less demanding and more democratic than the authoritarian parent.

Uninvolved:  This parent is rejecting and/or neglectful.

The article goes on to say that findings suggest children being raised in authoritative homes are more likely to do better in school than children of other parenting types.  They are also more likely to have higher self esteem and have better social skills.