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Understanding Parenthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2024

Stephanie Charlesworth
Stephanie Charlesworth*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Studies, University of Melbourne
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Extract

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The subject of parents and children is so immense and so much discussed that it takes a certain effrontery to write yet another article on it. I do, however, have a slightly original slant in that I am not concerned so much with how parents affect their children, but with the effects that children have on their parents.

Practically everybody has strong impressions of their own parents, even if they are not parents themselves, so that everyone has some kind of experience of parent child relationships. Sometimes this experience leads to understanding and insight: sometimes it leads to distortion and bias. In order to move away from the sort of discussion that is either an exchange, or a confrontation of various people's experiences, I propose to use two different approaches. The first will try to elucidate the structure of the dominant contemporary mode of parents-children relationships. The second will examine alternative ways of viewing parent-child relationships.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 12 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

References

1. Unless it is specifically mentioned, figures are taken from Social Indicators, No. 2, 1978, A.B.S. Canberra.Google Scholar
2. This marriage boom has occured in a number of western countries. See Marriage in Australia McDonald, Peter F., Australian Family Formation Project, Monograph No. 2, ANU, 1975, p. 169.Google Scholar
3. See Families in Australia a English, Profile Brian A., King, Raymond J., Smith, Sali S., Family Research Unit, University of N.S.W., 1978, p.7–13. In this work “families are defined in terms of children and the adult or adults that live with them, and are responsible for their care” p. 4.Google Scholar
4. Among two parent families, 31% have one child and 35.4% have two. This is set out in a diagrammatic form in English King and Smith op. cit. p. 11.Google Scholar
5. For a discussion of the ways in which parents are the product of the children born to them see Julius Segal and Herbert Yahraes “Bringing up Mother” in Psychology Today. Vol. 12, No. 6 November 1978 (American Edition) p. 90–93.Google Scholar
6. The element of intentionality is discussed as being a new characteristic of family formation in “The Changing Family”, by Bowman, Ted in Conciliation Courts Review Volume 15, Number 2 - December 1977, p. 17.Google Scholar