ABSTRACT
Parenting skills are multifaceted: often complex, much of the time intuitive a repertoire acquired by learning rather than ‘instinct’, and one that is shaped (and reshaped), often painfully, on the anvil of firsthand experience. As a prerequisite for the long-term unconditional commitment they must make, parents have to learn to love their child. Love at first sight or at preview is a minority achievement for first-time mothers (Robson and Kumar, 1980). What follows, as the child grows up, is the acquisition of a vast array of caregiving skills and behaviour management strategies. Mothers and fathers provide ‘good’ or ‘good enough’ parenting, using a variety of methods informed by diverse family, social and cultural models.
