This study investigated the chain mediating roles of children’s academic motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and academic engagement in the relationships between parenting styles (positive and negative) and their academic achievements in Chinese, mathematics, and English. The participants were 433 elementary school children from grades 3 to 5. After controlling for child’s sex, age, nonverbal intelligence, and family socioeconomic status, the results found that: (1) positive parenting styles exhibited a beneficial effect on academic achievement in Chinese, but not in mathematics and English. Negative parenting styles did not yield a significant effect on academic achievement in any of the subjects examined; (2) positive parenting styles could affect children’s Chinese achievement through their academic engagement and thorough the chain mediating roles of intrinsic academic motivation and academic engagement. However, these mediating and chain mediating effects were not observed in the case of mathematics and English. This study emphasizes the significance of positive parenting styles specifically in relation to the Chinese subject, as opposed to mathematics and English. These findings hold important theoretical and practical implications for promoting children’s academic achievement.