parenting

parenting — noun

1. the ongoing work of bringing up children, which includes providing care, teachin

1.nounB2
Definition

the ongoing work of bringing up children, which includes providing care, teaching values and skills, and making daily decisions about their well-being and future

Example

Soraya took a weekend course to learn more about positive parenting.

collocation: positive parenting

After their son was born, Emre and Eliska started reading about different parenting styles.

compound noun: parenting styles

Common collocations
  • positive parenting
  • single parenting
  • parenting skills
  • parenting style
  • co-parenting
  • parenting classes
  • shared parenting
Synonyms
  • child-rearing

    focuses more on the practical, day-to-day tasks of raising children; parenting is broader and includes emotional and relational aspects

  • parenthood

    refers to the state or condition of being a parent, not the active process of raising a child

  • upbringing

    describes the way a person was raised (the outcome), not the ongoing process of raising someone

Grammar Patterns

parenting + noun (parenting skills / parenting style)

adjective + parenting (good parenting / single parenting)

Usage Note

Uncountable noun — does not take a plural form or an indefinite article. Most commonly appears in attributive position before another noun (parenting books, parenting classes) or after an adjective (positive parenting, single parenting).

Common Mistakes

She learned a lot of parentings from the course.
She learned a lot about parenting from the course.
Parenting is uncountable and cannot be pluralised.
He has good parenting to his children.
He is a good parent to his children.
'Parenting' refers to the activity of raising children, not the relationship a parent has with them.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words relate to the relationship between parents and children, but they differ in scope. 'Parenting' is the active, ongoing process of raising a child — it covers daily care, discipline, emotional support, and decision-making. 'Parenthood' is the state of being a parent; you can experience parenthood without actively engaging in parenting (e.g., the joys of parenthood refer to the emotional role, not the workload). 'Child-rearing' is more concrete and task-oriented, focusing on the practical methods of feeding, dressing, and educating children. 'Upbringing' points backward at the result: the way someone was raised as a child. In conversation, a parent might say 'I'm reading a parenting book' (how to parent now) but 'my upbringing was strict' (how I was raised).

parenting ↗parenthoodchild-rearingupbringing

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • co-parenting
  • shared parenting

Adjectives

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

From 'parent' (a father or mother), which comes from Latin 'parens' meaning 'father or mother' (from 'parere' = to bring forth, give birth to), combined with the suffix '-ing' to form a gerund noun that names the activity. The noun 'parenting' began appearing in the mid-20th century alongside the rise of child psychology and developmental studies as a distinct field.