Under the Horse Chestnut Tree by Mary Cassatt, drypoint and aquatint print, 1898.

A parent (from Latin: parēns = parent) is a caretaker of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). Children can have one or more parents, but they must have two biological parents. Biological parents consist of the male who sired the child and the female who gave birth to the child. In all human societies, the biological mother and father are both responsible for raising their young. However, some parents may not be biologically related to their children. An adoptive parent is one who nurtures and raises the offspring of the biological parents but is not actually biologically related to the child. Children without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.

A parent can also be elaborated as an ancestor removed one generation.

Biological and non-biological parentage[link]

Like mothers, fathers may be categorized according to their biological, social or legal relationship with the child. Historically, the biological relationship paternity has been determinative of fatherhood. However, proof of paternity has been intrinsically problematic and so social rules often determined who would be regarded as a father e.g. the husband of the mother.

Biological parents and parental testing[link]

Monument to Parents and child

The term biological parent refers to a parent who is the biological mother or father of an individual. While an individual's parents are often also their biological parents, it is seldom used unless there is an explicit difference between who acted as a parent for that individual and the person from whom they inherit half of their genes. For example, a person whose father has remarried may call his new wife their step-mother and continue to refer to their mother normally, though someone who has had little or no contact with their biological mother may address their foster parent as their mother, and their biological mother as such, or perhaps by her first name.

Parental problems[link]

A paternity test is conducted to prove paternity, that is, whether a man is the biological father of another individual. This may be relevant in view of rights and duties of the father. Similarly, a maternity test can be carried out. This is less common, because at least during childbirth and pregnancy, except in the case of a pregnancy involving embryo transfer or egg donation, it is obvious who the mother is. However, it is used in a number of events such as legal battles where a person's maternity is challenged, where the mother is uncertain because she has not seen her child for an extended period of time, or where deceased persons need to be identified.

Although not constituting completely reliable evidence, several congenital traits such as attached earlobes, the widow's peak, or the cleft chin, may serve as tentative indicators of (non-) parenthood as they are readily observable and inherited via autosomal-dominant genes.

A more reliable way to ascertain parenthood is via DNA analysis (known as genetic fingerprinting of individuals, although older methods have included ABO blood group typing, analysis of various other proteins and enzymes, or using human leukocyte antigens. The current techniques for paternity testing are using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). For the most part however, genetic fingerprinting has all but taken over all the other forms of testing.

Mother[link]

A mother is a woman who has conceived, given birth to, or raised a child in the role of a parent.^[1] Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition. The male equivalent is a father.

Father[link]

A father is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring.^[2] The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother. The verb "to father" means to procreate or to sire a child from which also derives the gerund "fathering".

Grandparent[link]

Grandparents are the parents of a person's own parent, whether that be a father or a mother. Every sexually-reproducing creature who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, etc. Rarely, such as in the case of sibling or half-sibling incest, these numbers are lower.

Parent–offspring conflict[link]

Parent–offspring conflict describes the evolutionary conflict arising from differences in optimal fitness of parents and their offspring. While parents tend to maximize the number of offspring, the offspring can increase their fitness by getting a greater share of parental investment often by competing with their siblings. The theory was proposed by Robert Trivers in 1974 and extends the more general selfish gene theory and has been used to explain many observed biological phenomena.^[3] For example, in some bird species, although parents often lay two eggs and attempt to raise two or more young, the strongest fledgling takes a greater share of the food brought by parents and will often kill the weaker sibling, an act known as siblicide.

David Haig has argued that human fetal genes would be selected to draw more resources from the mother than it would be optimal for the mother to give, a hypothesis that has received empirical support. The placenta, for example, secretes allocrine hormones that decrease the sensitivity of the mother to insulin and thus make a larger supply of blood sugar available to the fetus. The mother responds by increasing the level of insulin in her bloodstream, the placenta has insulin receptors that stimulate the production of insulin-degrading enzymes which counteract this effect.^[4]

Optimal gender mix[link]

While a child has a biological father and a biological mother, not every family is a traditional nuclear family. There are many variants, such as adoption, shared parenting, step-families, and LGBT parenting, over which there has been controversy.

The social science literature rejects the notion that there is an optimal gender mix of parents or that children and adolescents with same-sex parents suffer any developmental disadvantages compared with those with two opposite-sex parents.^[5][6] The professionals and the major associations now agree there is a well-established and accepted consensus in the field that there is no optimal gender combination of parents.^[7] The family studies literature indicates that it is family processes (such as the quality of parenting and relationships within the family) that contribute to determining children's well-being and "outcomes," rather than family structures, per se, such as the number, gender, sexuality and co-habitation status of parents.^[6]

See also[link]

Look up parent in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Childbirth

• Bateman's principle – the theory that females almost always invest more energy into producing offspring than males, and that therefore in most species females are a limiting resource over which the other sex will compete.
• Borderline parents
• Child abuse
• Cinderella effect
• Egg and sperm donation
• Infant
• Narcissistic parents
• Non-paternity event
• Parental abuse by children
• Parental investment
• Parenting
• Parents bullying teachers
• Paternal bond
• Paternity (law)
• Reciprocal socialization
• Surrogate mother
• Teachers bullying parents

References[link]

External links[link]

• National Educational Network, Inc. (NENI) – free online resources for parent education, curriculum. They also have a parent blog with information about child care, afterschool, trends in education, tutoring, college, grants, etc.
•  "Parents". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.  – A Roman Catholic view of the position of parents.

Lisa Arch née Kushell (November 23, 1971), is an American comedienne and actress known for her roles in the 1997-98 Season of the FOX Network comedy show, MADtv, as cohost of TBS's Dinner and a Movie from 2002 to 2005, and most recently as the recurring character of Samantha Samuels on Disney Channel's Cory in the House. Arch has also has been in movies, such as 2007's Evan Almighty.

Personal life[link]

Born Lisa Kushell in Los Angeles, California, she began acting on stage at 15 years old in the sketch comedy troupe Upstage Comedy. Arch has often stated that her parents were extremely supportive of her and they allowed her to hone her skills in their "unfurnished living room" until she graduated from high school. She earned her SAG card with one line as a waitress on Dream On. After her first appearance, she began appearing on such shows as Seinfeld, The X-Files, and For Your Love.

She has an older brother, Bob Kushell, who is a TV writer/producer and Internet talk show host. Her brother works with her husband, Russell Arch, the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of ANYTIME WITH BOB KUSHELL, an internet talkshow for Sony Interactive's Crackle.com. On September 18, 2007, she gave birth to a son, Garrett Mitchell Arch.

Career[link]

[edit] MADtv

Arch joined the cast of MADtv in 1997, as a repertory performer, for the third season. She would be promoted to repertory status mid-season. She is remembered for playing characters like social outcast Susan Whitfield and sassy country gal Wanda Terry-Ann Lainier Parker from the Parker Sisters sketches.

Arch also flexed her comedy muscles with her celebrity impressions, of public figures like Paula Jones. She also lampooned Hollywood stars like Farrah Fawcett, Demi Moore, Alyson Hannigan, Lori Loughlin and Hope Summers. She has also impersonated singers like Melanie Chisholm (a.k.a. "Sporty Spice"), Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple.

After one season on the show, Arch left MADtv at the conclusion of season three to pursue other career opportunities.

Other television projects[link]

Since Leaving MADtv, Arch has done many guest appearances and voice overs. She has appeared in such commercials as "Mervyn's" and "Southern Comfort."

She has featured on the Comedy Central show Crank Yankers as the voice of "Cammie", an airheaded, bisexual party-girl in her early twenties. She also played the role of Samantha Samuels on the Disney Channel show Cory in the House. She has also had a part in the children's TV program Hannah Montana as a photographer. Arch can be seen on a regular basis at Los Angeles' ACME Comedy Theater and recently hosted a special episode of Reel Comedy about the movie, Bewitched. She also has made numerous guest appearances on television shows, including Reno 911!, Seinfeld, and The X-Files. Also she was in Austin & Ally as Damonica Dixon.

Dinner and a Movie[link]

In 2001, Arch's career got a boost when she replaced Annabelle Gurwitch as the hostess of the TBS cooking and entertainment show, Dinner and a Movie. For two and a half years, she appeared, alongside host Paul Gilmartin and chef Claud Mann, in each episode introducing movies and cracking jokes during the preparation of a creative dinner to go with some theme of the movie.

In 2004, Arch's contract had expired. As she was preparing for another season as hostess of the show, she got a call from TBS executives, right after the Thanksgiving holiday, informing her that her contract was not going to be renewed. She left the show on good relations with the Dinner and a Movie staff, but she was very upset about the failure to have her contract renewed. In 2005, she was succeeded by Janet Varney as host.

Filmography[link]

Television appearances[link]

Voice acting and video game appearances[link]

External links[link]

• Lisa Arch at the Internet Movie Database
• Lis Kushell at AllRovi
• Official Lisa Arch website