Children & Society最新文献

This paper investigates how children interpret the practice of guan (Chinese parenting) within the home and its relationship to family language policy (FLP). The study involved nine adolescent participants from six families. Using a written reflective task, the study explores the attitudes of adolescents towards the practice of guan and its effectiveness in the development and maintenance of the heritage language (HL). Data were collected as part of a larger research project investigating multilingualism among Chinese families in Ireland. The findings show that adolescents view parental guan as necessary and effective in HL development through parental encouragement, parental support and parental investment. The article responds to the linguistic and demographic changes in Irish society and makes an important contribution to knowledge about cultural practices, which may support the multilingual development of children in transnational families. Its focus on families in rural Ireland provides scope to develop the HL in the absence of large communities and language schools. Critically, the article expands on current scholarly discussions surrounding adolescents, identity, belief and agency within the field of FLP, by shedding light on how adolescents interpret parenting practices and cultural concepts and perceive complex bilingual and bicultural family structures.

Social inequality shapes society and influences how children grow up. This study explores how wealthy young individuals in Germany perceive social inequality, focusing on their awareness of both wealth and poverty. In-depth interviews revealed that their understanding of poverty is relatively simplified, shaped largely by a lack of direct contact with those affected. While they have greater insight into the experience of growing up privileged, they do not identify as wealthy themselves and often express discomfort when reflecting on social disparities. Their views are shaped by personal experiences, such as encounters at school or in their social spaces, which often lead to negative attributions regarding wealth. Regarding poverty, attributions tend to emphasise material deprivation and draw on common social narratives. The findings suggest that interactions between adolescents from different socio-economic backgrounds should be facilitated with care, as discussions around inequality can provoke discomfort and defensiveness.

The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about how children aged 10 to 12 describe their leisure time, and how their accounts of what they do, what they want to do, and what they perceive as available to them can be understood in relation to age as a social category. Drawing on qualitative interviews with children aged 10 to 12 who attend open leisure programmes, and guided by a ‘doing age’ framework, this study approaches age as a socially constructed and negotiated concept shaped through everyday practices. The analysis reveals that children position themselves as being at an ‘in-between’ stage, neither ‘little kids’ nor teenagers, and use leisure spaces to define what is appropriate for ‘kids their age’. Two key processes underpin this construction. Firstly, the children navigate a balance between dependence and independence, not by rejecting care, but by embracing responsibility and making informed choices. Secondly, they express a desire for progression, seeking more advanced or age-appropriate activities. Together, these processes reflect their efforts to be recognised as capable and maturing individuals. Children also describe leisure spaces as age-coded, distinguishing between environments perceived as ‘for kids’ and those offering more autonomy or challenge. Their connections to these spaces are shaped by how well they align with their self-perceived age. Their experiences highlight a form of interdependence, where autonomy, trust, and care are continuously negotiated in both material and relational contexts.

Grandparent childcare is an international phenomenon, especially within families with children under 3 years old. China is no exception, as shown by a number of quantitative studies. Less clear is our understanding of the actual childcare arrangements involved and how these are negotiated and sustained through the intergenerational interactions between grandparents and parents. As a contribution to answering those questions, this qualitative study was undertaken in Taonan, northeast China. Interviews were conducted to explore participants' perceptions of grandparent childcare. A systemic perspective on contemporary Chinese family life is used to present and understand data through an Integrated Family Model. Within the context of a rapidly changing society, traditional characteristics of family obligation and the intimate ties between grandparents and their adult children were being reconfigured in new forms of intergenerational identity. On the basis of the findings, as articulated in the model, recommendations are made for practice and future research.

Placement of children in alternative care is supposed to be a temporary arrangement while social workers address issues that led to the removal of a child from the care of the family. However, in the rendering of family reunification services (FRS), social workers encounter numerous challenges that hinder their ability and capacity to render effective and efficient services. Consequently, children stay longer in alternative care than needed. Based on an exploratory sequential mixed-methods study conducted at five child protection organisations in South Africa, the article highlights several measures to ensure that social workers render holistic FRS. Data for the qualitative phase of the study were gathered from 15 child protection social workers through interviews and analysed using Creswell's model of thematic data analysis. Data for the quantitative phase of the study were collected from 127 child protection social workers using questionnaires and analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences. Study findings indicate that the measures to ensure that social workers render holistic FRS are: the provision of resources for family reunification; the reduction of social workers' caseloads; the supervision and monitoring of social workers; in-service training of social workers; and adherence to the principles of family reunification. The article concludes that all identified measures should be put in place to enable social workers to render holistic and timely FRS, which increase the possibility of success of family reunification.

Children's digital and physical worlds are increasingly entwined as they build and manage meaningful connections online. Central to this is digital empathy and responsible online conduct, that is, a digital ethics of care. We focus on 10–11-year-old children from a primary school in the UK, exploring how they conceptualise and understand the feelings and behaviours of others. Children interviewed each other in pairs (N = 18) following school-based education regarding interviewing skills. Thematic analysis illustrated three themes related to digital empathy and interpretation focused on the discussion of an imaginary experiment of Schrödinger's cat, as an analogy for digital empathy. This analogy encompassed a finding that in digital environments, consequences of negative behaviours for others are challenging to discern, in terms of effect and affect. The findings have implications for our understanding of digital empathy and the challenge of teaching children responsible conduct online.

For decades, children have been taught about ‘stranger danger’. Fear of the stranger has been associated with overly cautious parenting strategies, and the curtailing of freedoms as children transition to adolescents. This article aims to examine the extent to which parents consider this issue of stranger danger in their decisions to grant independence. Qualitative interviews with 43 parents in the United Kingdom of children aged between 9 and 17 asked respondents about their approach to teaching children about risks from strangers and related concerns and analysed using thematic analysis with additions from grounded theory. Parental concerns broke down into six core themes relating to (1) concerns beside stranger danger; (2) risks in a blended reality; (3) discourse and messaging; (4) feeling uneasy as alternative lesson; (5) balancing anxiety with reassurance; and (6) teaching about risky people. The findings of this article indicate that concerns about strangers occupy more limited space within actual parental approaches to child safety than previously thought and that the overriding parental concern is to promote citizenship skills that will enable children to become functional members of society.