Commentary: From Fathering to Parenting and Back Again

摘要

This commentary highlights a possible emerging consensus that there is more benefit in conceptualizing fathering as a form of parenting rather than in attempting to continue to distinguish it from mothering. This position may threaten inquiry into fathering as a specifically male enterprise, but it broadens our understanding of the functions that parents perform, the different ways these goals can be accomplished in the diverse configurations found in the families of the world, and the possible role that gender can play in the distribution of these tasks.