ABSTRACT
In all societies, families are an important cultural unit, and parents are ascribed the responsibility for the care of their offspring. While birth is a biological function, parenthood is largely culturally defined. As a noun “parent” (referring to mother or father) has been modified to the verb form “parenting” to describe the activities of parents with their children (Anandalakshmy, 2005). The term parenting has no corresponding word in Hindi. The closest word is palan-poshan which literally means care and nourishment, especially of children. In the field of developmental psychology and anthropology, this expansion has been a consequence of the focus on parents and the influence of their activities on children.
