The aim of this study was to investigate the health and pathological aspects of parenting in Iran. This study has a qualitative design and the method used is Grounded Theory (GT). The population consisted of all Muslim parents with children over 10 years of age, living in Tehran and Karaj during the summer of 2016 to the summer of 2017. The sample contained 44 Muslim parents who were studied through semi-structured interviews. The interviews’ data analyzed based on Grounded Theory model and eventually, the result consisted of open, axial and, selective coding, 216 initial codes, 9 concepts and 3 cluster. In the axial analysis of the initial codes, 9 concepts(parenting styles) were extracted: rejection; kindness/support; over protection; inflexibility; optimum structure; chaos; coercion; assertiveness; autonomy support; negligence/passivity. These concepts can be conceptually distinguished although they have common features. In the following analysis and selective coding, 9 concepts are integrated around 3 major axis: intimacy (rejection; kindness/support; over protection); structure/law (inflexibility; optimum structure; chaos); autonomy/freedom of action (coercion; assertiveness; autonomy support; negligence/passivity). Of the three concepts that were organized around each axis, the medium concept draws a balanced and healthy situation and two other concepts represent the pathological aspects of that axis. The results of this study showed that most of the parents involved in the study used a kind of authoritarian parenting style (the combination of over protection, inflexibility and coercion). Healthy parenting (the combination of kindness/support, optimum structure and autonomy support) is in second rank.