Written to help couples prepare for parenthood and to improve the effectiveness of parents, this book provides extensive guidelines and background information for accomplishing the basic tasks of parenting. Chapter One depicts parenting as a process, delineates parents' tasks and describes how parents learn to be parents. Based on Erikson's theory of development, Chapter Two discusses parenting in relationship to the human life cycle. Chapters Three and Four examine the basic assumptions and techniques of five strategies of parenting that focus either on feelings or on changing behavior. Human development from birth through adolescence is discussed in Chapters Five through Ten. Chapter Eleven describes women's reasons for entering the work force and possible effects of mother's employment on children. Focused on single parenting, Chapter Twelve examines the experiences many parents go through as they cope with disruption of the family unit, come to terms with that loss, and establish new life patterns. Guidelines for stepparenting are provided in Chapter Thirteen. The concluding Chapter briefly indicates the resources (both inner and outer) parents can draw on when their children face severe problems. (Author/RH)