Parenting is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the activity of raising a child rather than the biological relationship.
In the case of humans, it is usually done by the biological parents of the child in question, although governments and society take a role as well. In many cases, orphaned or abandoned children receive parental care from non-parent blood relations. Others may be adopted, raised by foster care, or be placed in an orphanage.
The goals of human parenting are debated. Usually, parental figures provide for a child's physical needs, protect them from harm, and impart in them skills and cultural values until they reach legal adulthood, usually after adolescence. Among non-human species, parenting is usually less lengthy and complicated, though mammals tend to nurture their young extensively. The degree of attention parents invest in their offspring is largely inversely proportional to the number of offspring the average adult in the species produces.
There is general consensus around parents providing the basic necessities, with increasing interest in children's rights within the home environment.
Other parental duties can include:
Main article: Parenting styles
Of these two models, Simon Soloveychik, author of Parenting For Everyone, states:
The models ���rules of traffic��� and ���fine gardening��� are especially dangerous because we, following our best motives, constantly quarrel with our children, destroy relationships, and all our parental work becomes a hopeless effort. Moreover, we don���t understand why this has happened. ��� Simon Soloveychik
Parenting typically utilizes tools of reward and punishment method, but most child development experts now agree that corporal punishment is not an effective behavior modification tool. In 24 countries around the world corporal punishment (e.g., spanking or whipping) has been prohibited by law. Many parents have adopted non-physical approaches to child discipline, for example time-out. The other "civilized" forms of discipline behavioral control, structure, accountability, parental supervision, etc.
The philosophy of Parenting For Everyone, which stems from the book by the same name, considers parenting from the ethical point of view. It analyses parenting goals, conditions and means of childrearing. It offers to look at a child's internal world (emotions, intelligence and spirit) and derive the sources of parenting success from there. The concept of heart implies the child's sense of being loved and their ability to love others. The concept of intelligence implies the child's morals. And the concept of spirit implies the child's desire to do good actions and avoid bad behavior, avoid encroaching upon anybody's dignity. The core concept of the philosophy of Parenting For Everyone is the concept of dignity, the child's sense of worthiness and justice.
In the United States, disparate models explicitly termed "Christian parenting" are popular among some parents who claim to apply biblical principles to parenting. Information on Christian parenting is found in publications, Christian parenting websites, and in seminars devoted to helping parents apply Christian principles to parenting.
While some Christian parenting models are strict and authoritarian, others are "grace-based" and share methods advocated in attachment parenting and positive parenting theories. Particularly influential on opposite sides have been James Dobson and his book Dare to Discipline, and William Sears who has written several parenting books including The Complete Book of Christian Parenting & Child Care and The Discipline Book.
In a study of Christian parents done by Christian Parenting Today in 2000, 39% of the families surveyed have family devotions once a week or more, and 69% of parents consider Sunday school, youth and children's programs extremely important.
Examples of other modern parenting models include:
Family planning decisions about whether and when to become parents, planning, preparing, gathering resources. Reproductive health and preconceptional care affect pregnancy, reproductive success and maternal and child physical and mental health.
During pregnancy the unborn child is affected by many decisions his or her parents make, particularly choices linked to their lifestyle. The health and diet decisions of the mother can have either a positive or negative impact on the child during prenatal parenting.
Many people believe that parenting begins with birth, but the mother begins raising and nurturing a child well before birth. Scientific evidence indicates that from the fifth month on, the unborn baby is able to hear sound, be aware of motion, and possibly exhibit short-term memory. Several studies (e.g. Kissilevsky et al., 2003) show evidence that the unborn baby can become familiar with his or her parents' voices. Other research indicates that by the seventh month, external schedule cues influence the unborn baby's sleep habits. Based on this evidence, parenting actually begins well before birth.
Depending on how many children the mother carries also determines the amount of care needed during prenatal and post-natal periods.
Infant Parenting is where many of the responsibilities of parents begin. They need to attend to their infant's needs by providing special food, to adapt to the infant's erratic sleep cycle and to comfort their child at all times. Additionally, they should love their child constantly and become very sensitive to anything that scares the infant or makes it sad. Mothers should breast feed their infants at this stage if they can, and sufficient exposure to language will be important for the infant when it begins speaking later on.
When the infant becomes a toddler, (generally 1 year after birth) the parents must begin to provide basic training of different types. Of the skills the child learns at this stage, many of them are motor skills and coordination. The child must learn to crawl, sit up, and eventually walk. They must develop their hand-eye coordination from pre-basic levels to higher levels of sophistication. Most speaking ability also develops at this stage, and parents must encourage lingual development by attempting to talk with the child, get them to understand basic gestures and emotional displays, and in most developed countries, eventually teach them to read and write. (This skill overlaps with the next stage of development.)
As the child develops and they learn to speak and move on their own, their curiosity sometimes "drives them like a motor." They will be able to crawl off staircases and swallow dangerous objects all on their own at this point, and parents will have to protect their child by protecting them, and in turn, showing them how some things (swallowing objects, falling off stairs) are dangerous.
Parents are expected to make important decisions about preschool education and early childhood education. Parents have to love and care for their preschoolers doing all that they can to keep them safe. It is important not to keep things laying around that is dangerous to small children and items that say keep out of reach of children. Children at this age are very likely to put things in their mouths and eat and drink things that are dangerous to their health.
During adolescence children are beginning to form their identity and are testing and developing the interpersonal and occupational roles that they will assume as adults. Although adolescents look to peers and adults outside of the family for guidance and models for how to behave, parents remain influential in their development. Parents often feel isolated and alone in parenting adolescents, but they should still make efforts to be aware of their adolescents activities, provide guidance, direction, and consultation. Adolescence can be a time of high risk for children, where newfound freedoms can result in decisions that drastically open up or close off life opportunities. Parental issues at this stage of parenting include dealing with "rebellious" teenagers, who didn't know freedom while they were smaller.
Parents may receive assistance from a variety of individuals and organizations. Employers may offer specific benefits or programs for parents. Another source of assistance is other parents. Using the advice of other parents is sometimes the best advice due to the fact that some have lived through exactly what you are experiencing
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