WHAT IS PARENTING?

Parenting (or child rearing) is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of achild from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the aspects of raising a child aside from the biological relationship.^[1]

The most common caretaker in parenting is the biological parent(s) of the child in question, although others may be an older sibling, a grandparent, a legal guardian, aunt, uncle or other family member, or a family friend.^[2] Governments and society may have a role in child-rearing as well. In many cases, orphaned or abandoned children receive parental care from non-parent blood relations. Others may beadopted, raised in foster care, or placed in an orphanage. Parenting skills vary, and a parent with good parenting skills may be referred to as a good parent.^[3] Views on the characteristics that make one a good parent vary from culture to culture.

Factors that affect parenting decisions

Social class, wealth, culture and income have a very strong impact on what methods of child rearing are used by parents.^[4] Cultural values play a major role in how a parent raises their child. However, parenting is always evolving; as times change, cultural practices and social norms and traditions change^{[citation needed]}.

In psychology, the parental investment theory suggests that basic differences between males and females in parental investment have great adaptive significance and lead to gender differences in mating propensities and preferences.^[5]

A family's social class plays a large role in the opportunities and resources that will be made available to a child. Working-class children often grow up at a disadvantage with the schooling, communities, and parental attention made available to them compared to middle-class or upper-class upbringings^{[citation needed]}. Also, lower working-class families do not get the kind of networking that the middle and upper classes do through helpful family members, friends, and community individuals and groups as well as various professionals or experts.^[6]

^Referance :

Parenting. (2015, January 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:47, January 9, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parenting&oldid=641288084