Acting up and acting out: encountering children in a longitudinal study of mothering

Thomson, Rachel, Hadfield, Lucy, Kehily, Mary Jane and Sharpe, Sue (2012) Acting up and acting out: encountering children in a longitudinal study of mothering. Qualitative Research, 12 (2). pp. 186-201. ISSN 1468-7941

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Abstract

Despite a proliferation of research exploring children’s lives and relationships over the past two decades, there is a notable absence of research which explores family relationships from the perspective of very young children (age 0–3). This article reports on data emerging from a study of new mothering with a particular focus on very young children’s active engagement with wider family narratives. The study employs a qualitative longitudinal design, and women have been followed from pregnancy into motherhood. Most recently we have attempted to document a ‘day in the life’ of the mothers using participant observation techniques. This approach has enabled us to capture the emergence of the child (around 2 years old). This article focuses on examples of interaction between researcher, mother and child relating to food, exploring how researcher subjectivity can be interrogated as a source of evidence regarding the place of the child within the research and family dynamic including examples of ‘acting up’ and ‘acting out’ on the part of all participants.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: children, day in a life, food, mobile methods, mothers, participant observation, psycho-social, qualitative longitudinal, researcher subjectivity, work shadowing
Schools and Departments: School of Education and Social Work > Social Work and Social Care
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HQ The Family. Marriage. Women > HQ0503 The Family. Marriage. Home > HQ0755 Parents. Parenthood Including parent and child, husbands, fathers, wives, mothers
H Social Sciences > HQ The Family. Marriage. Women > HQ0503 The Family. Marriage. Home > HQ0767.8 Children. Child development Including child rearing, child life, play, socialisation, children's rights
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Depositing User: Cecilia Kimani
Date Deposited: 09 May 2012 09:20
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2018 18:00
URI: http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/38710
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