<![CDATA[The preschool period represents a critical golden age for the development of children’s language abilities, during which parenting style serves as the closest environmental factor influencing the quality of children’s communication. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the parenting styles of students’ parents and language development among preschool children at TK Negeri Dharma Santi. The study employed a quantitative approach with a correlational design and a cross-sectional framework, involving 45 children aged 4.5–5.6 years selected through total sampling. Data were collected using a parenting style questionnaire and a language development assessment sheet, then analyzed using the chi-square test and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. The results showed that the democratic parenting style was the most commonly applied (48.9%) and was associated with language achievement ranging from appropriate to highly appropriate, whereas all children exposed to authoritarian parenting were categorized as having inadequate language development. Statistical analysis demonstrated a significant relationship (Sig. = 0.000) with moderate to strong correlation strength (Pearson = 0.422; Spearman = 0.505). These findings confirm that more democratic parenting is associated with more optimal language development. It is concluded that parenting style is significantly related to preschool children’s language achievement; therefore, responsive and communicative parenting practices should continue to be encouraged to optimize children’s language abilities from an early age. ]]>
