Abstract:This article presents interpretative analysis of 25 qualitative interviews with parents of preschool children in Germany, which focused on starting daycare and centred on topics of closeness and distance in the parent–child relationships. The article draws on sociological studies on intensive parenting, and cultural psychological theories of parenting. The analysis reveals that parents discuss starting daycare within the cultural framework of intensive parenting: they stress the benefits for their child’s soci… Show more
“…This mother is longing for the closeness she experienced in her childhood, even as she acknowledges that her living conditions now are quite different from those of her childhood (see for the concept “longing for interdependence,” (Sieben, 2021)). Clearly, having two children and sharing an apartment with a separate children’s room is quite different from sleeping in a room with six siblings.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Furthermore, one of us grew up in Germany, the other in Turkey. Second, one of us has conducted a similar interview study on parental ethnotheories in Germany (Sieben, 2021). This German material plays an important role as a comparative horizon.…”
In this article, Turkish mothers’ perspectives on sibling relationships are described and analyzed on the basis of 15 qualitative interviews. It is surprising that sibling relationships have received little attention in cultural psychological or sociological research for decades, while other social relationships—such as parent–child relationships, (marital) partner relationships, peer relationships, or hierarchical relationships (e.g., superior–subordinate)—were often studied. The two main goals of the present study are first, to examine Turkish mothers’ ethnotheories of sibling relationships between their own offspring and second, to analyze these parental ethnotheories through the lenses of the cultural psychological and sociological concepts of collectivism/individualism and interdependent/independent self-concepts. The interview data for this empirical study was derived from a larger project which focuses on parental ethnotheories more broadly. Problem-centered interview method was used. Eleven of the interviews took place via a digital platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while four of the interviews were conducted face-to-face just before pandemic’s onset. The Turkish mothers interviewed were from Istanbul and Sinop, a small Turkish city on the coast of the Black Sea. The data was interpreted using the documentary method and relational hermeneutical analysis. The article examines and discusses three topics of sibling relationships, namely hierarchical/equal sibling roles based on birth order, solidarity/sharing, and conflict. We show that all of the mothers interviewed place a high value on connectedness between siblings. With regard to the hierarchical or egalitarian distribution of roles, some of the interviewees differ.
“…This mother is longing for the closeness she experienced in her childhood, even as she acknowledges that her living conditions now are quite different from those of her childhood (see for the concept “longing for interdependence,” (Sieben, 2021)). Clearly, having two children and sharing an apartment with a separate children’s room is quite different from sleeping in a room with six siblings.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Furthermore, one of us grew up in Germany, the other in Turkey. Second, one of us has conducted a similar interview study on parental ethnotheories in Germany (Sieben, 2021). This German material plays an important role as a comparative horizon.…”
In this article, Turkish mothers’ perspectives on sibling relationships are described and analyzed on the basis of 15 qualitative interviews. It is surprising that sibling relationships have received little attention in cultural psychological or sociological research for decades, while other social relationships—such as parent–child relationships, (marital) partner relationships, peer relationships, or hierarchical relationships (e.g., superior–subordinate)—were often studied. The two main goals of the present study are first, to examine Turkish mothers’ ethnotheories of sibling relationships between their own offspring and second, to analyze these parental ethnotheories through the lenses of the cultural psychological and sociological concepts of collectivism/individualism and interdependent/independent self-concepts. The interview data for this empirical study was derived from a larger project which focuses on parental ethnotheories more broadly. Problem-centered interview method was used. Eleven of the interviews took place via a digital platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while four of the interviews were conducted face-to-face just before pandemic’s onset. The Turkish mothers interviewed were from Istanbul and Sinop, a small Turkish city on the coast of the Black Sea. The data was interpreted using the documentary method and relational hermeneutical analysis. The article examines and discusses three topics of sibling relationships, namely hierarchical/equal sibling roles based on birth order, solidarity/sharing, and conflict. We show that all of the mothers interviewed place a high value on connectedness between siblings. With regard to the hierarchical or egalitarian distribution of roles, some of the interviewees differ.
“…Sharing an intimate relationship with children amidst a generational consciousness of intensive parenting requires parents to negotiate a fine balance between ever‐shifting socially appropriate ideals of closeness and distance (Faircloth, 2014; Jezierski & Wall, 2019; Sieben, 2021). Parents with a strong personal interest in regular physical activity were cognisant of being labelled a ‘pushy parent’ by overwhelming their children with too many of their own values, which they felt might have an adverse impact on the relationship and their child’s long‐term participation,I’ve never been a pushy parent… if they don’t wanna do it, there’s no point ‘cos if they don’t enjoy it, all you’re guna do is have the opposite effect… unfortunately he’s (son) still not doing anythin’!…”
Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…(Paige, born 1970) Although still somewhat imbued with notions of healthy development in a parentally engineered and supervised scenario, this also illustrates a longing amongst parents to be closely involved in their children's lives. As parents are aware that their children's increasing and eventual independence from them is considered a long-term successful outcome in the climate of intensive parenting, they cherish some elements of the interdependent and emotionally laborious stages of childhood (Sieben, 2021). Thus, despite the contemporary tensions about raising healthy children presented by the sedentariness of play, unspontaneous physical activity, and children's safety, feeling more responsible for children's development than prior generations may also present opportunities to enhance parental wellbeing through a closer sense of connection with their children.…”
Section: Increased Parental Surveillance and Engineering Of Children'...mentioning
Despite an increased drive over the past two decades in Western societies to promote children’s physically active play to improve their health, there are concerns that childhood has become less physically active. There are also fears that a previously naturally occurring aspect of childhood has become less authentically playful. Both trends highlight changes over time in the amount and type of play practiced by children and are often cited as consequences of generational shifts. Yet, research which analytically employs the concept of generation to connect changes to childhood with relevant social transformations is lacking. Inspired by Mannheim’s conceptualisation of generations, this paper draws on life history interviews with 28 United Kingdom residents born between 1950 and 1994 to propose a fracturing of naturally occurring physical activity from childhood play. As shifts in childhood and parenting have become inextricably linked, this argument illustrates the impact of an intensification to parenting upon greater parental surveillance of increasingly organised forms of childhood physical activity at the expense of spontaneous play. Future physical activity policy should be sensitive to the social climate in which recommendations for children are made, as this places expectations upon parents due to how childhood is currently understood within neoliberal contexts.
In recent decades, it has been suggested that the nature of childhood has been changing due to sociocultural shifts of the times and the extensive development and access to technology. This article addresses how mothers from two different cultural contexts, Chile and Germany, perceive changes in childhood and how these have affected their own maternal role. To do this, a qualitative, descriptive-scope study with a phenomenological design is conducted, involving six focus groups, three with German mothers and three with Chilean mothers of school-aged children. The question 'What are today's children like?' is explored, and the information collected is analyzed using content analysis and the application of open and axial coding. The results show that mothers from both contexts perceive positive aspects such as greater independence in children and their increased ability to establish horizontal relationships with adults. However, Chilean mothers mention an increase in socio-emotional problems in childhood, and German mothers refer to the adultification of childhood. It is concluded that mothers from both contexts perceive an experiential distance between their own childhood and that of their children, which impacts their experience of their maternal role.
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