For other uses see Parent (disambiguation). Under the Horse Chestnut Tree by Mary Cassatt drypoint and aquatint print 1898.

A parent (from Latin: parns 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 (where "child" refers to offspring not necessarily age). 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. Children without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.

A parent can also be elaborated as an ancestor removed one generation. Contents 1 Biological and non-biological parentage 2 Biological parents and parental testing 2.1 Parental problems 3 Mother 4 Father 5 Grandparent 6 Parentoffspring conflict 7 Optimal gender mix 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Biological and non-biological parentage

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. Biological parents and parental testing

The term biological parent refers to a parent who is the biological mother or father of an individual. While an individual's parents are often also their biological parents it is seldom used unless there is an explicit difference between who acted as a parent for that individual and the person from whom they inherit half of their genes. For example a person whose father has remarried may call his new wife their step-mother and continue to refer to their mother normally though someone who has had little or no contact with their biological mother may address their foster parent as their mother and their biological mother as such or perhaps by her first name. Parental problems Main article: Parental testing

A paternity test is conducted to prove paternity that is whether a man is the biological father of another individual. This may be relevant in view of rights and duties of the father. Similarly a maternity test can be carried out. This is less common because at least during childbirth and pregnancy except in the case of a pregnancy involving embryo transfer or egg donation it is obvious who the mother is. However it is used in a number of events such as legal battles where a person's maternity is challenged where the mother is uncertain because she has not seen her child for an extended period of time or where deceased persons need to be identified.

Although not constituting completely reliable evidence several congenital traits such as attached earlobes the widow's peak or the cleft chin may serve as tentative indicators of (non-) parenthood as they are readily observable and inherited via autosomal-dominant genes.

A more reliable way to ascertain parenthood is via DNA analysis (known as genetic fingerprinting of individuals although older methods have included ABO blood group typing analysis of various other proteins and enzymes or using human leukocyte antigens. The current techniques for paternity testing are using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). For the most part however genetic fingerprinting has all but taken over all the other forms of testing. Mother Main article: Mother

A mother is a woman who has conceived given birth to or raised a child in the role of a parent.1 Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social cultural and religious definitions and roles it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition. The male equivalent is a father. Father Main article: Father

A father is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring.2 The adjective "paternal" refers to father parallel to "maternal" for mother. The verb "to father" means to procreate or to sire a child from which also derives the gerund "fathering". Grandparent Main article: Grandparent Grandparents are the parents of a person's own parent whether that be a father or a mother. Every sexually-reproducing creature who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic grandparents eight genetic great-grandparents sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents etc. Rarely such as in the case of sibling or half-sibling incest these numbers are lower. Parentoffspring conflict Main article: Parentoffspring conflict Parentoffspring conflict describes the evolutionary conflict arising from differences in optimal fitness of parents and their offspring. While parents tend to maximize the number of offspring the offspring can increase their fitness by getting a greater share of parental investment often by competing with their siblings. The theory was proposed by Robert Trivers in 1974 and extends the more general selfish gene theory and has been used to explain many observed biological phenomena.3 For example in some bird species although parents often lay two eggs and attempt to raise two or more young the strongest fledgling takes a greater share of the food brought by parents and will often kill the weaker sibling an act known as siblicide. David Haig has argued that human fetal genes would be selected to draw more resources from the mother than it would be optimal for the mother to give a hypothesis that has received empirical support. The placenta for example secretes allocrine hormones that decrease the sensitivity of the mother to insulin and thus make a larger supply of blood sugar available to the fetus. The mother responds by increasing the level of insulin in her bloodstream the placenta has insulin receptors that stimulate the production of insulin-degrading enzymes which counteract this effect.4 Optimal gender mix While a child has a biological father and a biological mother not every family is a traditional nuclear family. There are many variants such as adoption shared parenting step-families and LGBT parenting over which there has been controversy. The social science literature rejects the notion that there is an optimal gender mix of parents or that children and adolescents with same-sex parents suffer any developmental disadvantages compared with those with two opposite-sex parents.56 The professionals and the major associations now agree there is a well-established and accepted consensus in the field that there is no optimal gender combination of parents.7 The family studies literature indicates that it is family processes (such as the quality of parenting and relationships within the family) that contribute to determining children's well-being and "outcomes" rather than family structures per se such as the number gender sexuality and co-habitation status of parents.6 See also Look up parent in Wiktionary the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Childbirth Bateman's principle the theory that females almost always invest more energy into producing offspring than males and that therefore in most species females are a limiting resource over which the other sex will compete. Borderline parents Child abuse Cinderella effect Egg and sperm donation Infant Narcissistic parents Non-paternity event Parental abuse by children Parental investment Parenting Parents bullying teachers Paternal bond Paternity (law) Reciprocal socialization Surrogate mother Teachers bullying parents References Definition from Allwords.com "WordNet". http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwnsfather. Retrieved 2007-12-14. dead link Trivers R.L. (1974). "Parentoffspring conflict." American Zoologist 14 249264. Haig D. (1993). "Genetic conflicts in human pregnancy." Quarterly Review of Biology 68 495532. Michael Lamb PhD: Affidavit United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (2009) a b Elizabeth Short Damien W. Riggs Amaryll Perlesz Rhonda Brown Graeme Kane: Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Parented Families A Literature Review prepared for The Australian Psychological Society In The Supreme Court of Iowa No. 071499 External links National Educational Network Inc. (NENI) free online resources for parent education curriculum. They also have a parent blog with information about child care afterschool trends in education tutoring college grants etc.  "Parents". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.  A Roman Catholic view of the position of parents. v d eFamily Household  Nuclear family  Complex family  Stepfamily  Dysfunctional family  template Parenting Immediate family Spouse (Husband Wife)  Parent (Father Mother)  Child (Son Daughter)  Sibling (Brother Sister) Extended family Grandparent  Uncle  Aunt  Cousin  Nephew  Niece  Common ancestor Family-in-law Father-in-law  Mother-in-law  Brother-in-law  Sister-in-law Kinship Consanguinity  Affinity  Fictive kinship  Marriage  Adoption  Divorce  Disownment Lineage Genealogy  Patrilineality  Matrilineality  Bilateral descent  Family tree  Pedigree  Family name  Heredity  Inheritance  Heirloom Relationships Familial love  Parental love  Marital love  Brotherly love  Filial piety  Veneration v d eParenting See also: School  Family  template Family Types Adoptive  Alloparenting  Complex family  Coparenting  Foster care  LGBT  Noncustodial  Nuclear family  Orphaned  Shared  Single parent  Stepfamily  Surrogacy  In loco parentis Biology Attachment theory  Child development  Cognitive development  Developmental psychology  Human development  Love  Maternity  Maternal bond  Nature versus nurture  Parental investment  Paternal bond  Pediatrics  Social psychology Styles Attachment parenting  Concerted cultivation  Gatekeeper parent  Helicopter parent  Nurturant parenting  Slow parenting  Soccer mom  Strict father model  Parenting For Everyone  Taking Children Seriously  Work at home parent Techniques After-school activity  Allowance  Bedtime  Childcare  Co-sleeping  Homeschooling  Latchkey kid  Play (date)  Role model  Spoiled child  Television  Toy (educational) Discipline Blanket training  Corporal punishment in the home  Curfew  Grounding  Naughty chair  Tactical ignoring  Time-out Abuse Child abandonment  Child abuse  Child labour  Child neglect  Cinderella effect  Incest  Narcissistic parents  Parental abuse by children Legal / social aspects Child support  Cost of raising a child  Marriage  Parental responsibility (Deadbeat parent)   Paternity Experts Tanya Byron  James Dobson  Rudolf Dreikurs  David Elkind  Jo Frost  Haim Ginott  Thomas Gordon  Annette Lareau  Penelope Leach  Madeline Levine  William Sears  Benjamin Spock