Roles of Parenting

Recently in a listening & learning session by Dr.Meg Meeker I came across a wonderful way to understand the different roles of parenting. I loved that snippet and hence sharing it here.

Between a father and a mother, they interchangeably play 2 roles in every aspect of a child’s upbringing. The roles are

1. Lead Parent
2. Support Parent

Lead Parent

A Lead parent takes the “lead” in that aspect of a child’s life in terms of involvement, decision making, and priorities.

e.g: A Father generally takes a lead in the financial planning for a child’s future. He plans and executes the savings plans, insurances etc.

Support Parent

A Support parent plays the second fiddle to the lead parent in that aspect of child’s life.

e.g: Father’s role in the nutritional needs of a child. Which is generally well managed by a mother.

Roles in 6 Aspects of a child’s life

If we look at the various aspects of a child’s life, we can perhaps segregate it into 6 aspects. Each section has a lead parent and a support parent.

1. Academics
2. Extra-Curricular
3. Career Planning
4. Health
5. Wealth
6. Social Life

I am not going to list what role a mother or a father plays in each of this section. But let the readers and their partners decide it for themselves 🙂