understanding Parentingand Parenthood

Introduction

In the changing world of family life, parenting itself has come under closer examination. How important is quality parenting, who judges it, and is its provision the sole responsibility of parents – should parents just be left to get on with it? I blame the parents!' How often is that phrase used to explain the ills of society and is it valid? This course, Parenting, will consider how important is quality parenting, who judges it, and is its provision the sole responsibility of parents should parents just be left to get on with it? The course is of interest to anyone who is, might become or works with parents. While working through this course, you will be asked to reflect on your own experience of being parented, on being a parent and on working with parents. We shall also look at how parenting in the UK compares with parenting in other countries. Parenting within different cultures in the UK may vary too, and the course invites you to consider this. Important issues are also raised about parental responsibility, preparation for parenthood, and how quality parenting is defined or assumed. However, we are not primarily concerned here with the psychology of fatherhood and motherhood or the parenting role. Rather, the course takes a broader view. It encourages reflection on the social and political aspects of parenting, how current social policy is influenced by different political agendas about parenting, and how support for families is organized and delivered. That parenting has a political dimension cannot be denied, given government pronouncements on the value of good quality parenting, the importance of marriage, and initiatives to support and sustain ‘family life’ (Home Office, 1998). Yet parenting remains widely understood as an essentially private activity, in which the state should intervene only to protect a child in certain defined circumstances. This raises fundamental questions about the principles practitioners should apply when working with parents and about how support services for parenting might be developed, offered and evaluated.

Learning Outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Distinguish between parenthood and parenting
• Outline some of the reasons why parenting may require support from outside the immediate family
• Demonstrate how individual, environmental and structural factors can have an impact on parenting
• Challenge the notion that ‘problem’ parents and ‘problem’ families can be readily identified
• Demonstrate the development of key transferable study skills concerning the ability to summarise arguments, learn from personal experience and apply theory to issues and dilemmas in practice.