Parent / child

1. When referring to a parent directory, this refers to a directory that contains the directory that you currently are in.  For example, the MS-DOS path "C:\Windows\System32" contains the directories 'Windows' and 'System32', the 'Windows' directory is the parent directory of the 'System32' directory.
2. When referring to a computer processes, a child is a sub process of the main parent process. It is common for the parent process to remain active or open until the child process is completed. 

Also see: Fork, Directory, Leaf