ABSTRACT
This article is the second half of “Rethinking The History of Ontario Day Nurseries: Loci for Intervention, Regulation and Administration.” The intent of the two-part article is to emphasize the discursive environment in which day nurseries in Ontario, Canada, developed in the early part of the twentieth century. Part One explores the theoretical lenses and the methodological approaches used for interpretation. Namely, the article uses poststructural approaches to understanding power/knowledge as an alternative lens to interpreting services for young children and their families. In the first part, the article also situates child care discourses within the broader literature of the history of childhood, and begins to outline the discursive environment in which day nurseries were created by describing how discourses of health positioned day nurseries as sites for intervention on the lives of young children and their families. This second half continues this dialogue by describing how day nurseries were positioned as sites of regulation and administration. In particular, it explores discourses of child welfare and child psychology and connects these back to health discussions outlined in part one. To end the discussion, the article presents connections to contemporary deliberations of child care.
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Notes
Numerous struggles emerged between the controlling organizations and the social agencies. The battles within and among the organizations themselves were also numerous (see Wills, 1995 for a detailed description).
Distinct from day nurseries and kindergartens, nursery schools were developed for preschool children between 2 and 5 years of age and assisted middle-class families who had links with universities. While day nurseries were considered as a relief agency for poor working mothers and consequently as a risky environment for young children, nursery schools were described as appropriate for the psychological development of young children.
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Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. Continuing Rethinking The History of Ontario Day Nurseries: Loci for Intervention, Regulation, and Administration. Child Youth Care Forum 35, 183–204 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-005-9007-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-005-9007-2