“Sadly, we just let it go, it is so normalized”: Staff descriptions of violence among children within organized leisure

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate how staff describe violence among children within organized leisure in Sweden, named school-age EduCare. The study is based on ten semi-structured interviews with staff, and analyzed with theoretical concepts of Lefebvre’s space theory, and Galtung’s theory of violence. The results reveal three types of violence—quarrel for fun, violations, and physical violence—and three ways of reacting and managing it—stress and resignation, material adaption, and adaption through guarding. In conclusion, this study shows an everyday life filled with violent spaces, but limited resources for staff to cope with violence and create safe spaces for children and staff. The study pinpoints the complexity in everyday life where violence in different ways occurs between children, and staff are unable to manage this in an appropriate way. Instead, staff adjust to time and place, where spaces of violence between children are normalized.