Children's social life space during a pandemic - a research report from rural areas

Abstract

The article presents qualitative research on the social relations of rural children during the Covid-19 pandemic and their agency in this regard. The research material was collected through focus group interviews with children aged 7 and 9 from two villages in north-eastern Poland. As a result of the research, their social contacts in the space of home, school and backyard were characterized. It was found that the children experienced relatively limited solitude, being always in contact with family members and peers from the neighborhood. Staying at school is the basis for expanding the social relations of children in the countryside. Early school age children prefer direct contacts and the media did not constitute a satisfactory field of social relations during the pandemic. Parents and the school limited the agency of children during the pandemic.