105 H. Selin (ed.), Parenting Across Cultures: Childrearing, Motherhood and Fatherhood in Non-Western Cultures, Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science 7, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7503-9_9, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 Being a parent is universally considered a complex and valued role that most adults would undertake and regard as one of the most significant steps in their lives. This is certainly evident in Philippine society, where the family is “the center of [Filipinos’] universe” (Jocano 1998, p.11). From a scientific standpoint, an under- standing of parenting is crucial to the study of human development, given substan- tial research evidence that how parents raise their children is cause and correlate of various positive and negative outcomes, from school and work success to antisocial behavior and mental illness (Collins et al. 2000). However, the current state of knowledge remains dominated by Western research (Henrich et al. 2010), and more culturally diverse perspectives on parenting and families are essential to arrive at a more comprehensive knowledge of human development. This chapter presents the dominant themes that describe parenting in the Philippines. Parenting in the Philippines has been shaped by the unique history, values, experiences, adaptations, and ways of being that characterize the Filipino people and their culture. The fundamental assumption of this chapter is that parent-child interactions, and the complex roles, meanings, and consequences associated with parenting, are embedded in and shaped by broader contexts such as extended kin networks, neighborhoods, socioeconomic class, and culture. Theoretical perspec- tives such as Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems (Bronfenbrenner and Morris 1998) and Super and Harkness’s Developmental Niche (Super and Harkness 1986) propose that the sociocultural environment represents blueprints or prescriptions that influence and support the particular practices of parents as they interact with their children, and in turn children’s responses to and behaviors towards their par- ents. The cultural context likewise shapes the attitudes, beliefs, and goals that undergird parents’ behaviors; and the kinds of environments and activities that parents set for their children (Bronfenbrenner and Morris 1998; Bornstein and Cheah 2006; Super and Harkness 1986; Harkness and Super 2006). Parenting in the Philippines Liane Peña Alampay L.P. Alampay (*) Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines e-mail: lpalampay@ateneo.edu