Hello Eric

From what I have understood from the comments above is that the style.css file will get included automatically, but that the functions.php file might not. Does that mean that if I have to make any changes to the functions, I need to add some code to the functions.php file?

I found the following code on a Smashing Magazine tutorial. Please let me know if I should use this.

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'enqueue_parent_styles' );

function enqueue_parent_styles() {
   wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', get_template_directory_uri().'/style.css' );
}