Essere genitori: la sfida della genitorialità

[Autom. eng. transl.] The present contribution intends to bring out how the generative vein of the relational-symbolic model has guided us in reading the social changes that the parental bond has encountered, how it has guided our doing research and, rediscovering itself always current, has opened new and stimulating questions and paths of study and meeting with the family. Specifically, the chapter intends to focus on the theme of parenting as one of the manifestations of generativity. In particular, starting from the consideration of the different forms of biological, parental and social generativity (Snarey, 1993), some aspects related to parenthood will be discussed, such as the sharing of parental responsibility between the two parents, the symbolic sharing of the parenting between foster / adoptive parents and biological parents, sharing care between generations within the family and the intergenerational transmission of values, the sharing of responsibility between parents and other significant adults (professors / educators / sports instructors). In particular, some peculiar forms of parenting will be studied in depth, such as the experience of fostering and adoption, which will be treated with particular reference to social generativity. If parenting, in fact, is always called to go beyond the boundaries of the family nucleus and to develop, over time, into a social dimension, the institutions of adoption and fostering are based by intrinsic nature on a deep and reciprocal connection between family and social: will therefore be analyzed both from the point of view of research and practical implications as generative projects with a natural social value.