Parenting receives growing amounts of attention from researchers, and what was once considered chiefly an art is now also recognized for being a science. Our knowledge of parenting has increased significantly in the last few decades; new developments continue to happen daily. The Encyclopedia of Parenting provides, in reference book format, what we now know about parents, parenting, and the parent-child relationship, synthesized in some 250 alphabetically arranged entries. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and provides an authoritative overview of a particular topic.

Subjects covered include: child activity; child outcomes; child states; parent behaviours; parental situations; external and community factors; systematic concerns; the transition to parenthood; available resources; persons who have added to our knowledge of the field. Entries draw on a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, education, and sociology. Each entry closes with a bibliography, and the volume concludes with a selected list of works for further reading.