Engagement in Parenthood against the Background of the Contemporary Family

Parental experiences are integrated into a complex system of cultural, social and economic processes. Dichotomous view of reality in which the high valuation of family and parenthood in Poland follow in the wake of negative demographic indicators contradict presented assessments. So there is a question about causes of the current state and how the issue of functioning in parental roles relates to the postmodernism, for which affirmation of independence and lack of commitment is characteristic. This paper presents an attempt to define involvement in parenting and research project that came as a result of searching an answer to the question about the correlation between parental involvement and self-creation of adults. Because parenting expresses interpersonal dimension of the individual activity, its quality has two-subjective consequences, i.e. it affects both sides of the parent-child relationship. Therefore, the second aspect of reported studies concerns the correlation between parenting involvement and education, recognized in terms of parental attitudes. The results indicate the possibility to notice implications of parental involvement expressed in self-creation experience of adults and desirable condition of child development, as defined mainly by parental attitude of acceptance. Involved parents actively participate in the care and upbringing of children and such activity promotes a sense of self-improvement. The idea of self-creation as a result of the parental role contradicts the attitude defined as freedom from children (called childfree), according to which the care and education of children are the source of limited individual development.