ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the essence of the independent interests which parents may have in relation to their children, reflected in the special legal status conferred upon them, and the extent to which the legal system should recognise them. It argues that parents do have independent interests which are not referable exclusively to promoting their children's welfare and that the legal system should explicitly and unapologetically endorse them. One widely held position is that parents have no independent rights or interests because everything they do is derived from the responsibility they have for their children. The chapter offers that there are good reasons for believing that parents have interests in relation to their children which are independent of their children's welfare and which are attributable to their own benefit. Judith Masson has referred to 'parenting by being' and 'parenting by doing' as alternative bases for the recognition of parental status.
