Parenting Tasks: Roles, Goals, and Responsibilities

Despite contextual factors and varied goals associated with parenting, roles and responsibilities of parenthood are derived from national and international laws, policies, research, and practice.  Below are well-agreed upon fundamental tasks of parenthood [1] that extend across many cultures:

  • photo of a women feeding her child
    Figure 1. A parent feeding their child exhibits the “providing sustenance” task of parenting. (Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels License)

    Safety and sustenance: ensuring adequate food, housing, clothing, medical care, and protection from harm in a multitude of contexts (e.g., neighborhood, household structure)

  • Socioemotional support: providing warm and positive responsivity, affection, communication, expectations, affirmations, encouragement, emotional regulation, guidance, discipline, and modeling of appropriate behaviors
  • Stimulation/instruction: encouraging achievement and learning through exposure to developmentally-appropriate and culturally-enriching experiences
  • Supervision: monitoring whereabouts, communications, activities; collecting information from various sources; maintaining ongoing, reciprocal communications with children
  • Structure: facilitating organized environments and activities via routines, rituals, scaffolding, and time management
  • Socialization: supporting connections with communities, relatives, friends, peers, and institutions [2]

  1. Bradley, R. H. (2007). Parenting in the breach. How parents help children cope with developmentally challenging circumstances. Parenting: Science and Practice, 7(2), 99-148.
  2. Laukkanan, E., Karppinen, S., Maattaa, K., & Uusiautti, S. (2014). Emphases of parenting in the light of three comparison groups. International Education Studies, 7(3), 67-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n3p67

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Parenting and Family Diversity Issues Copyright © 2020 by Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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