The ‘Well-Invested’ Child

Abstract

This chapter shows how, for middle-class Palestinian women in Israel, mothering is a restless and relentless project of creating the ‘well-invested’ child and mother. We look at the three basic concepts of educating children that the mothers worked towards—the ‘well-invested’ child, a ‘strong personality’ and a child who ‘lead’. The work on behalf of their children is also a presentation of themselves—to Israeli and Palestinian society alike—as a new generation of women. The Palestinian Israeli mothers put to use knowledge and educational services in an ongoing effort to distinguish themselves as women of an educated and successful generation of Palestinian Israelis. For these women, mothering is interwoven with their own efforts to create and sustain an educated Palestinian Israeli middle class.