Discussions centering around “the” optimal parenting style have been occurring since researchers have had interest in parent-child interactions. Similarly, the effects of parenting stress on children’s development have been researched widely. The relationships among parenting styles, parenting stress, and parents’ perceptions of their young children’s competencies have not received significant attention, however. As such, this study sought to understand these relationships in a sample of mothers and fathers with young children. This study collected self-report data from 84 mothers and 43 fathers regarding their parenting styles, parenting stress, and ratings of competencies displayed by their young children. Correlational and mediation regression analyses suggested that, for mothers’ reports, an authoritative parenting style was correlated negatively with parenting stress and parenting stress was correlated negatively with peer acceptance. Further, the findings of this study showed that the relationship between authoritative parenting styles and peer acceptance was mediated fully by parenting stress for mothers’ reports. Such mediational findings were not replicated for fathers’ reports. These results suggested the importance of parenting styles and parenting stress for young children’s development of competencies, especially from mothers’ perspective.