Abstract
Who are the users of institutions for children like schools and daycare centres? The notion ‘institutions for children’ is not unequivocal: it could mean institutions built to house and/or to serve children in the interest of people other than children, or it could mean institutions that are established in the best interests of children without any hidden agenda. Since I do not belong to what one might call ‘institutional Luddites’, who would rather see daycare centres disappear from the surface of the earth, I believe that we cannot do better than to make them desirable places for children; at the same time we should not make ourselves victims of a vain illusion about daycare centres and schools as the unconditional and categorical fulfilment of children’s dreams. Perhaps we simply know too little about them from the children’s point of view. The following story from real life is most likely not representative of children’s feelings about daycare centres but I cannot resist the temptation to share it with readers since it is both thought provoking and comical:
Four four-year old boys had disappeared from their daycare centre. Well hidden behind some bushes they had been digging a tunnel under the fence around the daycare centre. Luckily, they were soon found and brought back without retribution while rules were firmly reiterated to the effect that skipping out and running away from daycare centres was strictly forbidden. Parents were shocked. The daycare centre leader promised that it would not happen again. (Read in the Danish daily Politiken on 1 February 2007; my translation and adaptation)
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© 2012 Jens Qvortrup
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Qvortrup, J. (2012). Users and Interested Parties. In: Kjørholt, A.T., Qvortrup, J. (eds) The Modern Child and the Flexible Labour Market. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230314054_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230314054_14
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