Paper short abstract:

Bringing together contemporary ethnographic material with an historically informed analysis of the value accorded to education in the attainment of mobility, the rise of charter schools, afterschool programs, summer camps and other enrichment activities and the “high stakes” educational landscape in multicultural California, this paper examines how parents negotiate complex and dynamic learning ecologies.

Paper long abstract:

From conceptualizations of learning lives (Erstad, et al. 2009) to participation trajectories (Dreier 2003; Ito, et al 2010), it is now widely accepted that young people's learning ecologies are constituted within and across a range of contexts. The notion of a learning ecology (Barron 2006) acknowledges the social and contextual factors that shape learning and young people's development. In middle class families, parents typically broker relationships with institutions and individuals associated with learning in their efforts to cultivate relationships and provide access to social, economic and cultural capital, what Lareau (2003) has termed "concerted cultivation". We also see the increasing influence of peer culture and young people's own social networks and experiences offering alternative opportunities and pathways for learning. These diverse and, at times, distinctive opportunities for learning often produce anxiety and tension between young people and their parents. This paper examines how parents negotiate the learning ecologies of their children in learning and education in their children's lives based upon research with youth and families in California, USA. Bringing together contemporary ethnographic material with an historically informed analysis of the value accorded to education and educational capital in the attainment of mobility, the rise of charter schools, afterschool programs, summer camps and other enrichment activities and the "high stakes" educational landscape in multicultural California, this paper will explore the panel's emphasis on risk, management and expertise as it emerges in parents everyday navigation of this education and learning ecology.

Paper short abstract:

The practice of carrying an infant in a sling on the body can be a fraught activity in the absence of a long tradition. One of the ways that parents in Northern California learn about new products, safety and tying methods is through local babywearing meetings.

Paper long abstract:

Carrying a baby is a fundamental activity of all parents yet this simple practice can be anxiety-producing when a non-traditional practice is introduced. Such is the case with the baby sling or soft carrier. The now popular practice only began to enter Euro-American contexts in the late 1960s when "natural" childraising practices such as breastfeeding, co-sleeping and the use of a sling grew in popularity. Until then, carrying a baby using a cloth was seen as a primitive or exotic practice while Euro-American devices distanced the baby from caregivers in strollers, cribs and high chairs. Bowlby's theory of attachment, however, legitimized the idea of parent-child bonding from birth, and in the U.S., experts promoted the idea of keeping the infant close by "wearing" the baby using a wrap.

For the "expert-informed" parent, choices must be made regarding product, style, cost and safety. For some types, complicated tying sequences must be learned. How do new parents obtain advice for a practice that is unfamiliar to their kin? Infant deaths have caused product recalls and medical experts are unable to keep up with the plethora of new products. One option is to attend meetings of an affiliate of the nonprofit Babywearing International Inc. These are led by local mothers who bring "libraries" of samples and give talks. Preliminary fieldwork suggests that such meetings are one option for parents who seek advice and social time. Such groups do not replace kin, but supplement the parent's information sources.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the use of counselors, kinship relations, and the exemplification of heteronormativity on MTV’s docu-reality show, Teen Mom. I focus on how counseling and kinship ties create a juxtaposition of desirable motherhood and pathological parenting which is never resolved because of the show’s investment in heteronormativity.

Paper long abstract:

Traditionally, anthropologists have long been interested in emic perspectives that have resulted in cultural ethnography. Reality television shows have provided cultural artifacts that, although mediated, can provide rich evidence for observed cultural phenomenon. This paper explores how parenting, and more specifically, teenage motherhood is represented on MTV's docu-reality show Teen Mom.

An important part of parenting is having what is viewed as the "normal family." Variations of kinship outside of a heterosexual couple secured through marriage are oftentimes viewed as pathological and dangerous to children. In terms of discourse surrounding motherhood, the cult of true womanhood and domesticity historically relegated true women to caring for the home, with a focus on caring for their children and husband. Mothers who do not fulfill these roles are often blamed for their children's lack of well-being and are viewed as deviant.

In this paper, a critical analysis of Teen Mom explains how counseling experts, difficult relationships with the parents of these teen mothers, and heteronormative representations of motherhood as portrayed through these mothers struggle for "normal" family structures, creates both reassurance and anxiety for these teen moms. Here, I argue that the show's mediated or constructed representations create a sense of dependency for these young women when raising their children. While they may want to be independent and self-reliant for themselves and their children, they are constantly infantilized through their families and counselors, and are reminded that they do not and can never fit the heteronormative ideal.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines tensions and dilemmas social work professionals encounter between their theories and codes of practice, and their personally-held and experiential values, with a particular focus on the application of ‘expertise’ in their own family environments.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents the dilemma for child and family social workers of defining 'good parenting', exploring ways in which Social Work professionals respond to their 'expert' roles by combining specialisation and their own values and experiences. Although their expertise involves assessing parenting capacity, child risk and legal duties to protect, this may be blurred by their private narratives and personal parenting beliefs, which is often idealised: not only do they share the current penchant for parenting omnipotence, they guard against the threat of being judged incompetent, an anxiety close to their professional realities. There have been several cases of child death in recent UK child welfare; whether social workers hold responsibility for these cases or not, they are judged harshly by the media and public opinion, perhaps even more blatantly than the parents themselves. They may be in the business of judging parents, even sometimes condoning care as 'good enough' (Winnicott, 1965), but is 'good enough' good enough for their children? Both parenting and social work roles are sometimes characterised as callings rather than simply jobs; their judgements and decision-making are emotional, based on personal values. Thus, social workers who are parents may be drawn into an ever greater demand for 'expertise' within their own families. Yet, when social work professionals exercise their legal duties, do their judgements use theoretical knowledge and professional codes, or are they biased by their own values? What are the anxieties within these tensions and how do social workers manage their dilemmas?

Paper short abstract:

Our paper is focused on the parental delegation of childcare/education of young children (0-4 years) to Childcare workers. We shall look at risk avoidance strategies involved in the delegation process and examine if and to what extend the CCW are constructed as experts.

Paper long abstract:

Our paper (focused on the French speaking part of Switzerland) refers to a submitted research project (which should start in April 2012) on parental delegation of early childcare/education (0-4 years) from young parents to childcare workers (CCWs)frequently of migrant origin. Based on an extensive pre-enquiry, it will take into account the contemporary representations and practices of parenthood and seek to evaluate the way parents combine the paid services provided by CCWs with others services offered by public structures or kin (especially) grand-parents.

Taking into account the literature referring to "intensive mothering" (Hays 1996) we will elaborate on parental strategies aimed at conforming to contemporary parental ideologies while delegating to others the care of their young children. We shall discuss if, and to what extend CCWs are constructed as experts, and what are the arguments parents and CCWs respectively use to do so; we shall be particularly vigilant on possible links between this expertise and personal experiences in childcare CCWs may have before entering the job (such as fosterage or infantile mothering). Our hypothesis is that recognition of CCW's expertise and devaluation of the job are simultaneously built by the protagonists; it will give us some interesting clues to understand how the tasks involved in intensive mothering or childcare and education are hierarchized. Finally, we shall take a closer look to the way parents ponder and face the risk they take in the delegation, especially in regard of their children's needs and capacities and their maternal/paternal roles.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper I discuss the negotiations involved in the arrangements of childcare for children under two years of age in Santiago. I focus on the interweaving of established ideas of motherhood, women in the workforce and local trends in intensive parenting promoted by public and private entities.

Paper long abstract:

In Chile, "child-centeredness" is not a novel trend compared to other ethnographic settings (e.g. Hoffman 2003 for USA), where motherhood remains the main source of women's fulfillment and meaning in life. In this context, wider trends in intensive parenting during early childhood, informed by theories of attachment or stimulation are welcome by most families. At the same time, a still small but increasing number of women return to work after maternity leave, confronting difficult decisions on child care. What are the underlying principles that illuminate deciding between either professional daycare, home care by kin or other child-minders? Why do many opt for leaving formal work after becoming mothers?

Following from my ethnography on early mothering in Chile today in this paper I discuss the negotiations involved in childcare arrangements for children under two years of age by a group of parents of different work and income situations, focusing on the contextualized interweaving of well established ideas of motherhood with the local trends in intensive parenting which are strongly promoted by public and private entities. The complex set of discourses and actors involved -including partners, extended family and experts such as policymakers, professional and non professional child minders and pediatricians- bring to light the specific assemblage of wider tendencies in parenting with rooted ideas and practices of the "good mother" for different socio-economic groups in the city. The existing contradictory discourses and judgment towards the maternal-self lead women to several pragmatic strategies for reducing their sense of guilt.

Paper short abstract:

Migrant parents describe not having received an adequate education in their homeland compared to what they consider Italian parenting. The paper analyses how this perception influences migrants' parenthood and identity.

Paper long abstract:

The paper is based on a research project on migration and parenting in Italy among Ecuadorian and Moroccan communities. Migrant parents describe traditional Ecuadorian/Moroccan education as not adequate in opposition to what they consider Italian parenting standards. In reality, what they describe as Italian parenting style has more to do with the global discourse around 'competent parenting', which they equate with 'modernity'. This parenting style highlights the affective and emotional dimension of parenting, promoting an active role of parents for the education of children. It encourages an exclusive parents-child/children relationship. Parents are thought to devote their time and energy solely focussing on the child/children and actively organize children activities. This approach neglects the value of time spent with children simply being together but busy with everyday household activities. As a consequence, migrant parents tend to negatively evaluate how they were taken care in their homeland and consider their settlement in Italy as a way to forget traditional patterns of education and acquire competent parenting.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the lack of ‘trained’ parental expertise and the consequent anxieties as they emerged in narratives of Chilean-born adoptees and their Italian adoptive parents three decades after the adoption.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution offers a counter-example of the panel's theme by focussing on the lack of parental preparation in several cases of international adoption occurred between the 1970s and 1980s. When Sardinian childless couples embarked on the adoption of children from Chile, in the pre-Hague convention era, most of them had little to no formal preparation to child rearing. They also had no training of any kind to prepare them to face the issues that adopting transnationally inevitably implies. This paper focuses on the lack of 'trained' parental expertise and the consequent anxieties as they emerged in narratives of adoptees and adoptive parents three decades after the adoption.

The absence of a meaningful institutional support in what are peripheral settings contributed to a DIY approach in dealing with emotional crises. Adopted children and their Sardinian parents evoke past memories of the adoptees' childhood, considering the role played by parents in moments of crisis. While some adoptees express positive opinions of their adoptive parents' choices, some others voice their disapproval or openly express their resentments for what they believe were faulty judgements. Adoptive parents think back and confirm, or regret their choices. The intense emotional experience transpiring from the adoption narratives reveals unresolved conflicts and vehicles vibrant anxiety, in both adoptive parents as well as adoptees.

Is there a 'good' adoptive parent? Can 'good parenting' ever be learned? When they become parents themselves, adoptees realise they have more tools than their own parents to deal with parental uncertainty.

Paper short abstract:

This article explores how trends towards intensive parenting impact on the way inmate mothers experience motherhood from prison. We will focus on the contradictions emerging from the prison scene, highlighting mothers’ feelings of powerlessness and their efforts to stay connected with their children.

Paper long abstract:

Trends towards 'intensive parenting' have increasingly guided and shaped the way parents act upon their children. This has impacted especially on mothers, since women still play a central role in chilcare and education.

How do women prisoners facing imposed separation from their children manage social expectations and personal desires surrounding their performance as mothers? Drawing from data collected in a Portuguese prison, we will discuss this issue while highlighting the processes by which motherhood is produced discursively in a highly gendered institution.

Inmate mothers don't have the availability, time, or money required to meet certain social notions and expectations defining "proper" mothering and chilrearing, yet they want to preserve their role as mothers. They are also not alien to expert discourses about parenting since the prison environment also contributes to reproduce them. Our aim is to explore how recent changes regarding the social construction of parenting, and especially motherhood, impact on the way inmate mothers experience motherhood from prison, since these women deal with the same pressures as the ones faced by non-inmate mothers but are prevented from performing their role as mothers.

Our data allow for exploring the contradictions emerging from a prison scene where inmate mothers are continuously engaged in staying connected to their children, despite the institutional, physical, and even emotional barriers that surround them, and reproduce themselves the notion of parents as omnipotent. But, at the same time, these mothers feel anxious by their powerlessness, which contributes to generate feelings of self-blame, inadequacy, and dysfunctionality.

Paper short abstract:

Based on my resent research in Croatia, the paper will offer a short ethnography of parenting in high-conflict divorces.

Paper long abstract:

Approximately one third of all the divorces (Turkat 1997), the number of which is rising in most of the Western countries, are defined as high-conflict divorces. They are characterized by lack of communication between the divorced parents (or those undergoing the process of divorce), by child visitation interference and by different ways of emotional and psychological manipulation of children with the view of turning them against the other parent.

According to my recent research of conflict divorces in Croatia, there is almost no institutional help, even though it exists 'on paper', for such parents and their children.

The related institutions claim that the parents themselves are to blame, because they are 'irresponsible', 'incompetent', they 'egoistically place their needs before the needs of children', and frequently send them to parental education. Parents, on the other hand, who are the victims of child visitation interference and child manipulation feel disempowered, helpless, bitter and betrayed. Instead of continuing their parental roles, they frequently become 'distant relatives' to their own children.

The aim of this paper is to analyze this clash between institutions, experts and parents themselves in view of what responsible and effective parenting is.

Paper short abstract:

Since the 1980s, a growing number of American women are choosing to start a family without a male partner. These single mothers by choice (SMCs) are, for the most part, heterosexual, white, well-educated, financially-stable, and over 35. Not only are these women going against the norm, they do so in an era of “intensive mothering” (Hays 1996, Douglas and Michaels 2004), which places enormous responsibility on mothers to assure that their children have every possible advantage, and judges mothers for the way their children turn out. In this paper I use a case study approach to examine the fears, doubts, anxieties and judgments that populate the account of one American single mother by choice. Structured interviews about her parenting illuminate the anxieties produced by engaging in parenting that is “child-centered, expert-guided, emotionally absorbing, labor intensive, and financially expensive,” and highlights the special stresses that appertain to doing so as an intentionally single mother.

Paper long abstract:

Since the 1980s, a growing number of American women are choosing to start a family without a male partner. These single mothers by choice (SMCs) are, for the most part, heterosexual, white, well-educated, financially-stable, and over 35. Not only are these women going against the norm, they do so in an era of "intensive mothering" (Hays 1996, Douglas and Michaels 2004), which places enormous responsibility on mothers to assure that their children have every possible advantage, and judges mothers for the way their children turn out. In this paper I use a case study approach to examine the fears, doubts, anxieties and judgments that populate the account of one American single mother by choice. Structured interviews about her parenting illuminate the anxieties produced by engaging in parenting that is "child-centered, expert-guided, emotionally absorbing, labor intensive, and financially expensive," and highlights the special stresses that appertain to doing so as an intentionally single mother.