Parent

Lore & Background

A parent can be elaborated as an ancestor removed one generation. With recent advances in medicine, it is possible to have more than two biological parents, including instances involving surrogacy or a third person who has provided DNA samples during an assisted reproductive procedure. A female can become a parent through surrogacy, and some parents are adoptive parents who nurture and raise an offspring but are not related to the child. Orphans without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.

Reader's Guide

The concept of a parent encompasses both biological and social roles. A person's biological parents are those from whom they inherit their genes, but the term is generally used only when necessary to distinguish from foster parents. The extent to which it is socially acceptable for a parent to be involved in their offspring's life varies from culture to culture; too little involvement may be considered child neglect, while too much involvement may be seen as overprotective or intrusive. Legal guardianship is typically used for incapacitated seniors, minors, or developmentally disabled adults, and most countries have laws that parents of a minor child are the legal guardians. Social science literature mostly rejects the notion that there is an optimal gender mix of parents, indicating that family processes—such as the quality of parenting and relationships—contribute to determining children's well-being, rather than family structures per se.

Did You Know?

• A parent can be an ancestor removed one generation.
• More than two biological parents are possible, such as through surrogacy or a third person providing DNA.
• Parent–offspring conflict describes evolutionary conflict arising from differences in optimal fitness of parents and their offspring.
• In Europe, parents are generally happier than non-parents, with happiness increasing most in the year before and after the first childbirth.