The Claims of Parenting pp 1-34 | Cite as
The Languages of Psychology and the Science of Parenting
Abstract
The focus of the first chapter, and the basis for the thematic discussion which we take up again in later chapters, is an account of the conceptual and ethical aspects of childrearing and the parent–child relationship that are suggested by and, more importantly, that are left out by, the current dominant ways of speaking about childrearing and the parent–child relationship. These dominant ways are, we argue, strongly informed by the languages of psychology – particularly by the languages of developmental psychology, behavioural psychology and, fairly recently, neuropsychology. Alongside this, they are also strongly informed by the idea that parents are somehow in need of education. Taken together, these two phenomena refer to what we discuss here as the scientisation of the parent–child relationship. What we are particularly concerned with is how, within the current discourses, rich notions that are inherent to the parent–child relationship such as parental responsibility are given a very narrow sense. By analysing recent prominent research and popular literature on parenting and policies on parent support, in both the UK and Flanders, we hope to ‘de-naturalise’ the current predominant ways of conceptualising childrearing and the parent–child relationship and to open up ways of seeing this arena in a different light.
Keywords
Parenting Style Child Relationship Secure Attachment Attachment Parenting Meeting PlaceReferences
- Adriaenssens, P. (2010). Laat ze niet schieten. Geef de grens een plaats in het leven van jongeren. Tielt: Lannoo.Google Scholar
- Apple, R. (2006). Perfect motherhood. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
- Archard, D. (1993). Children: Rights and childhood. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Bailey, S., & Shooter, M. (2009). The young mind. London: Bantam Books.Google Scholar
- Baumrind, D. (1966). Effects of authoritative parental control on child behavior. Child Development, 37(4), 887–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Baumrind, D. (1967). Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75(1), 43–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bouverne-De Bie, M., Roose, R., Verschelden, G., Vanthyne, T., & Vandenbroeck, M. (2006). Van opvoedingsbelofte als maatschappelijke eis naar een maatschappelijk engagement in de opvoeding. In: HIG (Ed.) Van huwelijkscontract naar opvoedingsbelofte (pp. 60–66). Schaarbeek: Hoger Instituut voor Gezinswetenschappen.Google Scholar
- Briers, S. (2008). Superpowers for parents: The psychology of great parenting and happiness. London: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
- Bristow, J. (2009). Standing up to supernanny. Exeter: Societas Imprint Academic.Google Scholar
- Bronson, P., & Merryman, A. (2009). Nurtureshock: Why everything we think about raising our children is wrong. Chatham: Random House.Google Scholar
- Buber (1947). The education of character. In Between man and man (pp. 104–117). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Burman, E. (2008). Deconstructing developmental psychology. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Buysse, A. (2008). Opvoedingsondersteuning. Ondersteuning van gezinnen vandaag: Een onderzoek [Parent support. Supporting families today]. Universiteit Gent. http://www.gezinsbond.be/images/stories/opvoeden/rapport.pdf
- Cunningham, H. (2005). Children and childhood in Western society since 1500. Harlow: Pearson.Google Scholar
- Edwards, R., & Gillies, V. (2004). Support in parenting: Values and consensus concerning who to turn to. Journal of Social Policy, 33(4), 627–647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Etelson, E. (2010). For our own good; the politics of parenting in an ailing society. Berkeley: Left Coast Press.Google Scholar
- Field, F. (2010). The foundation years: Preventing poor children becoming poor adults. London: HM Government. Accessed online: http://povertyreview.independent.gov.uk/media/20254/poverty-report.pdf
- Furedi, F. (2001). Paranoid parenting. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
- Gerhardt, S. (2004). Why love matters; how affection shapes a baby’s brain. Hove: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Guldberg, H. (2009). Reclaiming childhood. Freedom and play in an age of fear. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Hardyment, C. (2007). Dream babies: Childcare advice from John Locke to Gina Ford. London: Frances Lincoln Ltd.Google Scholar
- Hugh, G., & De’Ath, E. (1984). The needs of parents (National Children’s Bureau). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
- Kagan, J. (1998). Three seductive ideas. Harvard: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
- Koops, W. (2007). Het kind als spiegel van de beschaving. In W. Koops, B. Levering, & M. de Winter (Eds.), Het kind als spiegel van de beschaving. Een moderne antropologie van het kind (pp. 13–25). Amsterdam: SWP.Google Scholar
- Lambeir, B., & Ramaekers, S. (2007). The terror of explicitness: Philosophical remarks on the idea of a parenting contract. Ethics and Education, 2(2), 95–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Latour, B. (2004). Politics of nature: How to bring the sciences into democracy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
- Levering, B. (2010). Hoed u voor de hersenhype. Pedagogiek in Praktijk, 16(3, no. 55), 8–11.Google Scholar
- Masschelein, J. (2008). Inleiding. In J. Masschelein (Ed.), De lichtheid van het opvoeden. Een oefening in kijken, lezen en denken. Leuven: LannooCampus.Google Scholar
- Phoenix, A., et al. (Eds.). (1991). Motherhood; meanings, practices and ideologies. London: Sage.Google Scholar
- Popkewitz, T. S. (2003). Governing the child and pedagogicalization of the parent. A historical excursus into the present. In M. Bloch, K. Holmlund, I. Moqvist, & T. Popkewitz (Eds.), Governing children, families and education. Restructuring the welfare state (pp. 35–61). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
- Ramaekers, S. (2010). Pedagogy of the encounter? Philosophical notes on the idea of ‘meeting places’ as forms of parent support. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. Retrieved October, 2010, from http://www.philosophy-of-education.org/conferences/Conference_details.asp?id=16
- Ramaekers, S., & Suissa, J. (2010). Wanneer is ‘goed’ ook ‘goed genoeg’? Enkele kanttekeningen bij de verwetenschappelijking van de ouder-kindrelatie. Signaal, 19(72), 4–21.Google Scholar
- Ramaekers, S., & Suissa, J. (2011a). Parents as ‘educators’. Languages of education, pedagogy and ‘parenting’. Ethics and Education, 6(1). (forthcoming)Google Scholar
- Ramaekers, S., & Suissa, J. (2011b, November 18–20). The parent-child relationship: The hidden normativity of developmental psychology. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Research Community Philosophy and History of the Discipline of Education, Leuven.Google Scholar
- Schaubroeck, K. (2009). Een verpletterend gevoel van verantwoordelijkheid. Waarom ouders zich altijd schuldig voelen. Breda: De Geus.Google Scholar
- Strahan, E. Y., Dixon, W. E., & Banks, J. B. (2010). Parenting with reason: Evidence-based approaches to parenting dilemmas. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Suissa, J. (2006). Untangling the mother knot: Some thoughts on parents, children and philosophers of education. Ethics and Education, 1(1), 65–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Suissa, K. (2009). Constructions of parents and languages of parenting. In N. C. Burbules & D. Kerdeman (Eds.), Philosophy of education (pp. 117–125). Champaign: Philosophy of Education Society.Google Scholar
- Sunderland, M. (2006). The science of parenting: How today’s brain research can help you raise happy, emotionally balanced children. London: DK Publishing.Google Scholar
- Timimi, S. (2005). Naughty boys. Anti-social behaviour, ADHD and the role of culture. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
- Van Crombrugge, H. (2008). The upbringing pledge as a framework for the parent-child relationship. In H. Van Crombrugge et al. (Eds.), Shared pedagogical responsibility (pp. 5–15). Antwerp: Intersentia.Google Scholar
- Van den Bergh, B. (2003a). Opvoeding en ontwikkeling: Historisch-maatschappelijk perspectief en meta-theoretisch kader. In B. Van den Bergh, L. Ackaert, & L. De Rycke (Eds.), Tienertijd. Communicatie, opvoeding en welzijn in context: 10- tot 18-jarigen, ouders en leerkrachten bevraagd (pp. 25–46). Antwerpen: Garant.Google Scholar
- Van den Bergh, B. (2003b). Opvoeding en communicatie in gezinnen: Moderne kunde, postmoderne kunst? In B. Van den Bergh, L. Ackaert, & L. De Rycke (Eds.), Tienertijd. Communicatie, opvoeding en welzijn in context: 10- tot 18-jarigen, ouders en leerkrachten bevraagd (pp. 323–338). Antwerpen: Garant.Google Scholar
- Van den Bergh, B. (2010). To become or to be? The duality of neurodevelopmen has a perinatal and therefore also a societal dimension [Inaugural address]. Tilburg: Tilburg University.Google Scholar
- Vandenbroeck, M., Boonaert, T., van der Mespel, S., & De Brabandere, K. (2007). Opvoeden in Brussel. Gent-Brussel: UGent – VBJK – VCOK – VGC. http://www.vcok.be/media/docs/OpvoedeninBrusseldefinitief.pdf
- Vandenbroeck, M., Boonaert, T., van der Mespel, S., & De Brabandere, K. (2009). Dialogical spaces to reconceptualise parent support in the social investment state. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 10(1), 66–77. dx.doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2009.10.1.66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Vincent, C., & Tomlinson, S. (1997). Home-school relationships: ‘The swarming of disciplinary mechanisms’. British Educational Research Journal, 23, 361–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Weisberg, D. S., Keil, F. C., Goodstein, J., Rawson, E., & Gray, R. J. (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 470–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Willems, J. C. M. (2008). What may parents be asked to pledge? In H. Van Crombrugge et al. (Eds.), Shared pedagogical responsibility (pp. 17–37). Antwerp: Intersentia.Google Scholar
- Winnicott, D. W. (1964). The child, the family, and the outside world. Middlesex: Penguin.Google Scholar
- Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophische Untersuchungen/Philosophical investigations (G. E. M. Anscombe, Trans.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
- Woollett, A., & Phoenix, A. (1991). Psychological views of mothering. In A. Phoenix et al. (Eds.), Motherhood; meanings, practices and ideologies (pp. 28–46). London: Sage.Google Scholar
- Woollett, A., & Phoenix, A. (1996). Motherhood as pedagogy: Developmental psychology and the accounts of mothers of young children. In C. Luke (Ed.), Feminisms and pedagogies of everyday life (pp. 80–102). Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar