Initial Research

Parents

A parent is a caretaker of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the mother or the father figure of a child. Children can have one or more parents, but they must have two biological parents. Biological parents consist of the male who sired the child and the female who gave birth to the child. In all human societies, the biological mother and father are both responsible for raising their young. However, some parents may not be biologically related to their children. An adoptive parent is one who nurtures and raises the offspring of the biological parents but is not actually biologically related to the child. Their grandparents or other family members can raise children without adoptive parents.

Biological vs. non-biological

Like mothers, fathers may be categorized according to their biological, social or legal relationship with the child. Historically, the biological relationship paternity has been determinative of fatherhood. However, proof of paternity has been intrinsically problematic and so social rules often determined who would be regarded as a father e.g. the husband of the mother.

Common Parental Concerns

Protecting young children

Statistics show that crime against young children by strangers is rare. Even so, these seven tips can help protect your child:

• tell your child to avoid talking to people they don't know when you're not around

• make sure your child knows never to walk away with anyone without first telling the person in charge

• make sure your child understands that they should always tell you if a stranger approaches, and never to keep this secret

• if your child is travelling alone, tell them to sit near other families on the train or bus

• if your child has to use a lift – tell them only to use lifts with friends, and not to feel worried about getting out if they are uncomfortable about someone else being in there

• if your child gets lost, they should ask for help from a police officer, another grown-up with children or someone working at a nearby shop

• have your children learn their address and telephone number by heart

Talking to children about sex

Talking about sex to your child doesn’t mean you are encouraging them to have sex. The best way to start talking about sex is to:

• Start when your child is young, as waiting until your child reaches puberty can make it awkward

• Make talking about sex a part of everyday life, not just a one-off talk and keep the conversation going as they get older

• Use everyday media to start conversations - soaps, adverts, TV programmes, magazines - then you can talk about other people which is sometimes easier to start with

• Use books, leaflets and websites (including those listed below) if you need information or ideas for how to start talking

• Recognize that as your child grows, they need privacy and may not always want to talk to you

• Talk to other parents about how they answer difficult questions and discuss difficult issues

• We all want our parents to love us, be proud of us and think the world of us.

• We only have one mom & dad

• We fear them

• We hate them

• We love them

Why should we love our parents?

• They sacrifice a lot for us

• Financial

• Emotional

• Always there for us

• They brought you into the world, without them we wouldn’t be here.

• They looked after you when you were young