Abstract
Parenting seems to be continually in the spotlight for political and social commentators. Meanwhile academic and practitioner work on children and child welfare explores how parents can best deliver for children as what parents do is seen as the route to a happy and successful childhood and future adulthood. This theoretical paper argues that a focus on outcomes for children has led to the role of parents being overstated and its significance mischaracterized. The paper contends that good parenting should not be judged in terms of child outcomes either in the present or future and, therefore, that focusing all attention on which aspects of children’s wellbeing should be prioritized is misguided. Instead, it proposes that good parenting is better understood as a form of relationship centred around the concepts of intimacy, care, and equality; and unpacks some of the implications of this shift in approach.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Journal of Family Studies |
Early online date | 11 Dec 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 11 Dec 2023 |
Research Groups and Themes
- Families and Parenting
- SPS Children and Families Research Centre