This article explores the potential of feminist new materialisms for rethinking enduring debates that cohere around children, sexuality, age and ‘childhood innocence’. A new materialist ontology of sexuality and Karen Barad's concept of spacetimemattering are employed to conceptualise sexuality as an emergent becoming of relational material‐discursive forces. Within this paradigm, mobilisation of arguments about ‘sexual innocence and readiness’ become a matter of entanglement of contingent ‘things’, ‘spaces’ and ‘ideas’, that includes young people's own sexual knowledge. We consider how this reorientation shifts the contours, debates and possibilities of sexuality education beyond restrictive ‘age‐appropriate’ narratives.
{"title":"A new materialist (re)configuring of sexuality, age and the discourse of ‘childhood innocence’","authors":"Toni Ingram, Louisa Allen","doi":"10.1111/chso.12906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12906","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the potential of feminist new materialisms for rethinking enduring debates that cohere around children, sexuality, age and ‘childhood innocence’. A new materialist ontology of sexuality and Karen Barad's concept of spacetimemattering are employed to conceptualise sexuality as an emergent becoming of relational material‐discursive forces. Within this paradigm, mobilisation of arguments about ‘sexual innocence and readiness’ become a matter of entanglement of contingent ‘things’, ‘spaces’ and ‘ideas’, that includes young people's own sexual knowledge. We consider how this reorientation shifts the contours, debates and possibilities of sexuality education beyond restrictive ‘age‐appropriate’ narratives.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142265825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Karen Murcia, Emma Cross, Julia Seitz, Geoffrey Lowe
Children actively participate in socially constructing their digitised childhoods. However, parents often struggle to understand and manage the relationship between children and digital technology, especially with reference to children's agency and creativity with digital devices. This paper reports on the impact on parent–child negotiations of a 10‐week programme of digital technology experiences whereby parents actively co‐played with their children. Interviews revealed a gradual transformation in parent beliefs, from anxiety to appreciation of negotiated agency and creative digital practice. From this finding, three guiding principles for parents are offered based around the concepts of attention, interest and interaction.
{"title":"Children's agency within digital play and learning: Exploring the impact of shared play experiences on parent–child negotiations","authors":"Karen Murcia, Emma Cross, Julia Seitz, Geoffrey Lowe","doi":"10.1111/chso.12905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12905","url":null,"abstract":"Children actively participate in socially constructing their digitised childhoods. However, parents often struggle to understand and manage the relationship between children and digital technology, especially with reference to children's agency and creativity with digital devices. This paper reports on the impact on parent–child negotiations of a 10‐week programme of digital technology experiences whereby parents actively co‐played with their children. Interviews revealed a gradual transformation in parent beliefs, from anxiety to appreciation of negotiated agency and creative digital practice. From this finding, three guiding principles for parents are offered based around the concepts of attention, interest and interaction.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"157 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Janne Brammer Damsgaard, Rasmus Dyring, Svend Brinkmann
This study explores the role of music and singing in fostering transformative caring relationships between fathers and their children. It aims to understand how these interactions contribute to fatherhood identity and relational dynamics, filling a significant gap in research on musical fatherhood. Employing a phenomenological‐hermeneutic approach, the study conducted open‐ended interviews with eight fathers, analysing data through the lens of Paul Ricoeur's theory of interpretation. Findings reveal that musical activities enable fathers to engage intuitively and responsively with their children, facilitating a pre‐verbal form of communication that deepens emotional bonds and enhances paternal identity. Music and singing emerge as powerful tools that transcend traditional parenting roles, allowing fathers to experience and express a potentiated sense of fatherhood marked by empathy, connection and care. This study highlights the profound impact of musical engagement on father–child relationships and suggests broader implications for emotional intelligence and gender roles in parenting.
{"title":"Fathers' transformative caring experiences of engaging in music and singing with their children","authors":"Janne Brammer Damsgaard, Rasmus Dyring, Svend Brinkmann","doi":"10.1111/chso.12903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12903","url":null,"abstract":"This study explores the role of music and singing in fostering transformative caring relationships between fathers and their children. It aims to understand how these interactions contribute to fatherhood identity and relational dynamics, filling a significant gap in research on musical fatherhood. Employing a phenomenological‐hermeneutic approach, the study conducted open‐ended interviews with eight fathers, analysing data through the lens of Paul Ricoeur's theory of interpretation. Findings reveal that musical activities enable fathers to engage intuitively and responsively with their children, facilitating a pre‐verbal form of communication that deepens emotional bonds and enhances paternal identity. Music and singing emerge as powerful tools that transcend traditional parenting roles, allowing fathers to experience and express a potentiated sense of fatherhood marked by empathy, connection and care. This study highlights the profound impact of musical engagement on father–child relationships and suggests broader implications for emotional intelligence and gender roles in parenting.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In current societal debate, opinions on children's use of digital technologies are polarized. This study investigates situated negotiations in everyday interactions by analysing how preschool children talk about digital media in relation to regulations on digital media use. A childhood sociological perspective guides an understanding of how children's experiences with digital media are shaped by their perspectives and social contexts. The findings show the participants managing tensions between home and preschool, resisting adult terminology, contributing to group identity and challenging the preschool rules. By restricting children's media use through policies might lead educators to overlook valuable insights offered by children.
{"title":"‘Children say playing and adults say working’: Children negotiating regulations on digital media in a Swedish preschool","authors":"Pernilla Lagerlöf","doi":"10.1111/chso.12904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12904","url":null,"abstract":"In current societal debate, opinions on children's use of digital technologies are polarized. This study investigates situated negotiations in everyday interactions by analysing how preschool children talk about digital media in relation to regulations on digital media use. A childhood sociological perspective guides an understanding of how children's experiences with digital media are shaped by their perspectives and social contexts. The findings show the participants managing tensions between home and preschool, resisting adult terminology, contributing to group identity and challenging the preschool rules. By restricting children's media use through policies might lead educators to overlook valuable insights offered by children.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates the application and implications of the use of a multilingual picture book app in Swedish preschools, focusing on children's engagement and educators' roles in supporting multilingual development. Employing semi‐structured interviews and video observations, this study reveals the app's potential in reinforcing multilingual identities, bridging home‐school gaps and fostering peer connections. However, it also uncovers complexities in managing linguistic diversity, reflecting societal language attitudes and hierarchies. Grounded in the sociology of childhood, the study provides a critical lens. This approach seeks to understand how digital reading activities are shaping children's linguistic experiences and identities within a specific social and educational context.
{"title":"Digital childhoods and multilingual identities: Preschool children's interactions with a picture book app","authors":"Malin Nilsen","doi":"10.1111/chso.12902","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12902","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the application and implications of the use of a multilingual picture book app in Swedish preschools, focusing on children's engagement and educators' roles in supporting multilingual development. Employing semi‐structured interviews and video observations, this study reveals the app's potential in reinforcing multilingual identities, bridging home‐school gaps and fostering peer connections. However, it also uncovers complexities in managing linguistic diversity, reflecting societal language attitudes and hierarchies. Grounded in the sociology of childhood, the study provides a critical lens. This approach seeks to understand how digital reading activities are shaping children's linguistic experiences and identities within a specific social and educational context.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Weight bias in educational settings can lead to bullying and have a severe negative impact on the mental well‐being and educational experiences of school children. Indeed, extensive research has shown that children who are labelled overweight are more likely to be victims of school bullying and that weight‐based bullying can lead to loss of self‐esteem, lower self‐confidence, social isolation, higher levels of anxiety and the development of psychosomatic issues. In this article, we utilise Butler's concepts of performativity and othering to analyse three written narrative accounts of weight‐based bullying in schools, published in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. In doing so, we adopt a narrative approach to not only investigate how the narrators depict the bullying they were subjected to in their childhood and the effects it had on them, but also how they position themselves in their narratives. Two themes, ‘performative othering’ and ‘a changeable body’, are identified in the narratives. These demonstrate how the narrators were co‐constructed as different, othered and dehumanised, and how the normative cruelties to which they were subjected as children served to police their corporeality in line with societal ideals. Taken together, our findings point to the importance of listening to the stories of those subjected to bullying and not only addressing bullying in terms of the negative actions taken, but also in relation to broader societal norms.
{"title":"‘How can you be friends with that fatty?’: The othered body in narratives on weight‐based bullying","authors":"Anna Eriksson, Paul Horton","doi":"10.1111/chso.12900","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12900","url":null,"abstract":"Weight bias in educational settings can lead to bullying and have a severe negative impact on the mental well‐being and educational experiences of school children. Indeed, extensive research has shown that children who are labelled overweight are more likely to be victims of school bullying and that weight‐based bullying can lead to loss of self‐esteem, lower self‐confidence, social isolation, higher levels of anxiety and the development of psychosomatic issues. In this article, we utilise Butler's concepts of performativity and othering to analyse three written narrative accounts of weight‐based bullying in schools, published in the Swedish newspaper <jats:italic>Aftonbladet</jats:italic>. In doing so, we adopt a narrative approach to not only investigate how the narrators depict the bullying they were subjected to in their childhood and the effects it had on them, but also how they position themselves in their narratives. Two themes, ‘performative othering’ and ‘a changeable body’, are identified in the narratives. These demonstrate how the narrators were co‐constructed as different, othered and dehumanised, and how the normative cruelties to which they were subjected as children served to police their corporeality in line with societal ideals. Taken together, our findings point to the importance of listening to the stories of those subjected to bullying and not only addressing bullying in terms of the negative actions taken, but also in relation to broader societal norms.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rebecca Raby, Lindsay C. Sheppard, Wolfgang Lehmann
Drawing on qualitative focus groups and interviews, this paper draws on participatory and relational approaches to explore how prospective and very new workers in their early teens in Canada talk about and navigate workplace safety. We foreground our young participants' discussions and safety management strategies to discuss their shared and sometimes narrow understanding of unsafe work; their mixed, and often limited, experiences of safety training; and the individualized avenues they prioritize to deal with potential and concrete safety issues. Countering our participants' inclination towards individualized solutions, we focus on how these young workers are embedded in relationships with others as well as the material world, including workplace cultures; networks and hierarchies of people; specific materials, time and time pressures; and safety‐related policies. Such a relational lens can in turn guide how we think about fostering workplace safety in ways that challenge more individualized approaches, specifically through recognizing interdependencies that shape how young people think about workplace safety; expanding beyond unidirectional, individualized educational strategies; and favouring shared self‐advocacy, especially with older workers, including through unionization.
{"title":"‘It is intimidating going into your first job’: Young teens and workplace safety","authors":"Rebecca Raby, Lindsay C. Sheppard, Wolfgang Lehmann","doi":"10.1111/chso.12896","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12896","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on qualitative focus groups and interviews, this paper draws on participatory and relational approaches to explore how prospective and very new workers in their early teens in Canada talk about and navigate workplace safety. We foreground our young participants' discussions and safety management strategies to discuss their shared and sometimes narrow understanding of unsafe work; their mixed, and often limited, experiences of safety training; and the individualized avenues they prioritize to deal with potential and concrete safety issues. Countering our participants' inclination towards individualized solutions, we focus on how these young workers are embedded in relationships with others as well as the material world, including workplace cultures; networks and hierarchies of people; specific materials, time and time pressures; and safety‐related policies. Such a relational lens can in turn guide how we think about fostering workplace safety in ways that challenge more individualized approaches, specifically through recognizing interdependencies that shape how young people think about workplace safety; expanding beyond unidirectional, individualized educational strategies; and favouring shared self‐advocacy, especially with older workers, including through unionization.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Childhood Studies scholars have increasingly engaged with the concept of neurodiversity, particularly with respect to neurodivergent children's mental well‐being. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the history of the neurodiversity movement in Italy, and the consequences on children's mental health, drawing on eight in‐depth interviews with movement leaders, researchers and members of parent associations. We argue that Italian education and health services serve as promising sites within which a neurodiversity approach can foster neurodivergent children's self‐esteem and give them powerful tools to fight against oppressive practices.
{"title":"‘Children should be raised like this’: A history of the neurodiversity movement in Italy and its implications for children's well‐being","authors":"Alice Scavarda, M. Ariel Cascio","doi":"10.1111/chso.12898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12898","url":null,"abstract":"Childhood Studies scholars have increasingly engaged with the concept of neurodiversity, particularly with respect to neurodivergent children's mental well‐being. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the history of the neurodiversity movement in Italy, and the consequences on children's mental health, drawing on eight in‐depth interviews with movement leaders, researchers and members of parent associations. We argue that Italian education and health services serve as promising sites within which a neurodiversity approach can foster neurodivergent children's self‐esteem and give them powerful tools to fight against oppressive practices.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The changes in emotions experienced during the pandemic and their effects on children's well‐being remain a significant issue. This study analyses 86 drawings created by children aged 5–13, collected in fieldwork conducted through workshops across various regions of Spain. The main objective was to describe how children portray their emotional changes and the resulting impact on their lives within the context of the pandemic. We employed qualitative bottom‐up logic to code the drawings using CAQDAS. Findings revealed a discernible emotional impact, expressed more explicitly by girls, as well as lasting elements concerning the pandemic and the enduring restrictions on social interactions, even beyond the widespread lockdowns of 2020.
{"title":"Tracing emotional experiences and the well‐being during the pandemic through drawings by Spanish children","authors":"Iván Rodríguez‐Pascual, Naiara Berasategui‐Sancho, Amaia Eiguren‐Munitis, Maitane Picaza‐Gorrotxategi, Noemí Serrano‐Díaz, Teresa González‐Gómez, Eva Palasí‐Luna","doi":"10.1111/chso.12897","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12897","url":null,"abstract":"The changes in emotions experienced during the pandemic and their effects on children's well‐being remain a significant issue. This study analyses 86 drawings created by children aged 5–13, collected in fieldwork conducted through workshops across various regions of Spain. The main objective was to describe how children portray their emotional changes and the resulting impact on their lives within the context of the pandemic. We employed qualitative bottom‐up logic to code the drawings using CAQDAS. Findings revealed a discernible emotional impact, expressed more explicitly by girls, as well as lasting elements concerning the pandemic and the enduring restrictions on social interactions, even beyond the widespread lockdowns of 2020.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142183310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Motherhood under 15 years is constructed as having crossed the line of societal morals and this construction shapes the provision of sexual and reproductive health services (SRH) for mothers under 15 years in Uganda. Using collaborative ethnography and through the lens of discourses and governmentality, I established that adolescent pregnancy is constructed within normative discourses enshrouded in religious and cultural values. What is constructed as non‐normative is regulated through restrictive SRH policies and penalizing discourses which inhibit access to SRH services and care. A paradigm shift in adolescent SRH policies that are rooted in human rights and equity is one alternative required.
{"title":"‘Crossed the line’: Sexuality discourses of motherhood under 15 years in Uganda","authors":"Annah Kamusiime","doi":"10.1111/chso.12894","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12894","url":null,"abstract":"Motherhood under 15 years is constructed as having crossed the line of societal morals and this construction shapes the provision of sexual and reproductive health services (SRH) for mothers under 15 years in Uganda. Using collaborative ethnography and through the lens of discourses and governmentality, I established that adolescent pregnancy is constructed within normative discourses enshrouded in religious and cultural values. What is constructed as non‐normative is regulated through restrictive SRH policies and penalizing discourses which inhibit access to SRH services and care. A paradigm shift in adolescent SRH policies that are rooted in human rights and equity is one alternative required.","PeriodicalId":47660,"journal":{"name":"Children & Society","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141865254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}