What term describes the process of caring for children and aiding in their growth and learning?

The term that best describes the process of caring for children and aiding in their growth and learning is parenting. Parenting encompasses a wide range of actions and responsibilities that include providing emotional support, education, guidance, and physical care to children. It involves not only meeting basic needs but also fostering a child's development across emotional, social, cognitive, and physical domains.

While nurturing is related and focuses on providing emotional support and encouragement, and child-rearing also refers to the broader aspects of raising children, parenting specifically combines these elements into a comprehensive role that involves both the caregiving and active participation in a child’s learning and development. Mentoring, on the other hand, usually refers to guiding someone in their personal or professional life, which typically does not encompass the full spectrum of caring for children from infancy through adolescence. Thus, parenting is the most suitable term for this process.