Parenting Narratives in Indian Context: Review Analysis Rooted in the Ramayan

Abstract

This review paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of parenting on child development, focusing on how various parenting styles and practices shape children’s cognitive, emotional, and social growth. It explores the effects of different parenting approaches on developmental outcomes such as academic achievement, psychological resilience, and social competence. By synthesizing evidence from various studies, the paper highlights some ways in which parenting influences child development, considering factors such as parental involvement, discipline strategies, and emotional support. Also, it examines the role of contextual variables, including socioeconomic status and cultural influences, in moderating the effects of parenting. This is first ever study which attempts to find the themes from ancient Indian literature and specifically the epic Ramayana as according to Indian philosphers the book of Ramayana contains different narratives and scenario that can be used to draw themes on Indian parenting styles but the main focus of the research still stands on finding the Indian parenting styles and nothing that how can they be used for the better development of child and which parenting styles are ideal to work on.  The review identifies critical gaps in the existing literature, such as the need for more research on the interaction between parenting and external socio-environmental factors. But the major research gap is that there have been lot of research in Indian parenting styles but they all were based on same old theories from western context which are not reliable in todays world and lacks lot of standardization error but the major issues that arise is the cultural and envoirmental factor because those theories of parenting were based on western world and a individualistic culture because of which it cannot suit to the Indian population as the country India is first of all very diversed in itself and consist of collectivistic culture which reqires the need of its own parenting styles to cope the research gap in the Rol. It also proposes directions for future research and practical recommendations for practitioners and policymakers aimed at enhancing parenting practices to support optimal child development. Through this examination, the paper aims to deepen the understanding of how diverse parenting strategies contribute to shaping children’s developmental trajectories and to guide evidence-based interventions for improving child outcomes.