What is parenting? In a nutshell, parenting is the support and promotion of the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting generally refers to the role of raising a child rather than on the biological relationship. In this sense, it can be deemed that a biological parent cannot automatically be parenting his or her child.
Raising a child is not an easy task. It entails a lot of work and sacrifices on the part of both the mother and the father. From the moment the mother learns that she is pregnant, she has to take care of her physical, emotional and mental health for the sake of the baby within her. She has to change her lifestyle, start eating healthy food, take her vitamins, and keep her doctor’s appointment to monitor the baby’s growth. On the part of the father, he has to work doubly hard to be able to support the needs of the mother-to-be and the coming baby.
The excitement of the coming birth of a child is slightly overshadowed by the thought of taking care of a new baby. As the birth date draws near, there are things that a new mom and dad have to take care of. There are baby clothes to buy, crib, beddings, baby carrier, baby toiletries, disposable diapers and more. Then there is the big decision for the mom if she will breastfeed or not; go back to work or not and a million other things. The dad also has to worry about finances and his role in rearing the child.
It is now archaic to relegate the rearing of a child solely to the mother as it is as archaic to expect the father to be the only provider. Parenting has evolved. The father is expected to be hands-on in taking care of a child as the mother is also expected to help out with the family finances.
