Talk:Parenting

"Further reading"

I have chopped the entire "further reading" section. There are hundreds, if not thousands of books on parenting, and unless we're going to list every last one of them, we probably shouldn't have any of them. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:17, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

• I have also nixed most of the external links for the same reason. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:22, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Emotional effects of becoming a parent

I have a hypothesis, coming from interaction with a friend who recently became a parent, that becoming a parent turns on basic evolutionary instincts that imbue a person with a sense of purpose. This makes many of the pre-parenting angsty feelings of loneliness, alienation, boredom, depression, etc. go away almost instantly. Basically depression is evolution's way of telling you your life has no purpose (from a biological standpoint) so you should stop eating (thereby leaving the pack's resources for those in the business of promoting the gene pool).

Becoming a parent obviously brings on all kinds of other worries and stressors, both concerning the child and one's own financial and social situation. As Chris Rock said, "Ain't no happiness nowhere." But it may take away those more "teenage-ish" concerns.

Obviously this is totally OR. I think it's plausible though, and if anyone knows of actual research that has been done in this area, I think it'd be worth including in the article. Mbarbier (talk) 17:18, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

• Well, aside from what you've already noted, that this is total OR, what about Postpartum depression or young mothers that throw their babies down an incinerator so they can go to a party? Having a child is like any other life-changing event, it affects different people in different ways. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:45, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Quote

Perhaps include this quote:

I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away -Nancy Mitford

• I fail to see how that would improve this article... Beeblebrox (talk) 20:02, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

NO DOUBT IT IS MEAN -some random guy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.39.127.15 (talk) 22:48, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Bias in Parenting Styles

This page covers much of the same ground as Parenting styles but seems to have more bias than that (which has itself been accused of bias). This page emphasises:

• Parenting For Everyone (the main page has been accused of being an advertisement)
• Christian parenting

And with less emphasis but with their own pages:

• Slow parenting
• Nurturant parent model
• Strict father model
• Attachment parenting
• Taking Children Seriously.

The models are also at odds with Parenting styles. These are :

• Rules of traffic models
• Fine gardening model
• Reward and punishment

On the other page they are:

• Authoritative parenting
• Authoritarian parenting
• Indulgent parenting
• Neglectful parenting

I'd like to suggest that this page should have less about parenting styles, which should be moved to the other page and balanced there. Rixs (talk) 13:15, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

• Agree, there should only be a brief summary here, with
  Main article: Parenting styles
  added to steer users to the article. We don't want to duplicate content. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:55, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

There's fairly active discussion on Talk:Parenting styles so perhaps the changes to this page are less contentious, and amount to deleting a load of this page. I'm not an expert on the theory of parenting styles, Sorry for forgetting to sign my earlier comments. Rixs (talk) 09:34, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

What exactly is the precise difference between Parenting models, Parenting styles, Parenting techniques, and Parenting practices so I don't put the wrong things in the wrong places? The sections/pages should be making this clear. Ikzing (talk) 13:08, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I think those phrases are equivalent, which is why I suggested the various merges and rewrites around Parenting styles. I think that page should cover the tactics of specific actions or short-term plans that a parent would have. Rewriting that should come first. Then either that page or this Parenting page should have some commentary on theories both of how parents might describe their abstract strategy and perhaps about child development (mainly by reference to the existing psychological articles).

So I wouldn't spend too long rewriting this until Parenting styles is done. I apologise for not doing that yet; it's a combination of my real-life commitments and not being sure that I've read enough theory. Rixs (talk) 10:39, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Split Christian parenting

As part of the reshuffle of Parenting styles, could anyone with strong views about moving out the sections on Parenting#Christian parenting and other ethics-focused styles, into a separate page, please say so? I believe that this will give those styles more room to express their POV while allowing Parenting and Parenting styles to be less biased. Rixs (talk) 10:39, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

After a little research, it appears to me that Christian Parenting is about as vague as Positive Parenting. I would reduce the text a bit and make both of those a bullet under Other models of parenting. If someone has more to say about Christian parenting, they can always make a new page. Ikzing (talk) 06:53, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Footer Template:Parenting?

I find that there are lots of articles on parenting, and I quite often want to compare one with another. Many have been written without full regard for the existing articles, but still contain valuable content. I wonder if we should create a template to go at the footer of all parenting-related pages, with links to the topics and popular examples? This would be similar to Template:Schools. It might also reduce the pressure for adequate coverage by people who endorse particular styles.

The existing Category:Parenting contains much of this, but I wonder if it might be made a bit more visible, with stricter inclusion criteria (for example excluding BabyCenter, V-chip).

Rixs (talk) 11:21, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like a great idea, considering how much work and organization many of the parenting pages need. If you have an idea for its structure, go ahead and create one so it can be 'massaged' before being added to any relevant pages. Ikzing (talk) 19:00, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

I've created a very rough template which needs some ideas and work: Template:Parenting. I tried to create some groupings which I thought might be useful, but I'm open to other arrangments. Ikzing (talk) 21:07, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

That's just what I was thinking, so well done! I've made a few adjustments, which we can discuss there. Rixs (talk) 09:32, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Lifespan sections

I've added main links to all the lifespan sections and rewrote the Infant section for starters. All the other sections need to be completely rewritten using material from the main pages. I'm really looking forward to seeing this page fill out. -- Ikzing (talk) 10:37, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Assistance section

I was considering deleting this section, then saw possibilities and started filling it out a bit. I've yet to add content to 'Care' but should probably frame this in terms of single parents and double income households, and in addition to the links I have there, could easily include After-school activity, Latchkey kid, and Parental supervision within the text. Ikzing (talk) 11:52, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Job Search Assistance

For example, when is my son going to get off his ass and find a job? He's 19. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.66.145.40 (talk) 16:16, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

"things they find important to them"

I didn't really understand part of this article containing "things they find important to them" (things who find important to who?), but later tried to figure it out and edit it to be more clear. However, the sentence was very awkward, so I still felt unsure whether or not I clarified it correctly, so I just want to notify editors in the talk page in case I made some mistake. 173.180.202.22 (talk) 04:02, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Lifespan Section: Adults

The lifespan section that talks about parenting adult children is very brief compared to the others. How do parents relate to their adult children? What kind of support will their children require from them the rest of their lives? The section could use two or three more paragraphs of expansion. ekedolphin (talk) 08:56, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

I agree with you, however, I made the section even smaller when I removed sentences that were not about parenting adults. What we need is a couple of good sources to get some information from. Also, we must be aware of possible cultural bias. For instance, in families living in poverty, a lot of very young adults take a caretaking role towards their family. Lova Falk talk 09:43, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Cost of raising a child is rediculous

Where on Earth does the figure come from in the parenthetical statement "(the raising of a child costs around $16,198 yearly in the United States)"?

Seriously, we spend maybe a couple hundred a year on our son. In fact, our annual income is $6,000. So it's totally fallacious to say that we must spend over $16,000 a year on one child. Raising children is so cheap, we have another due in two months, and plans on more.

This preposterous statement should be omitted. Thanks