Universiteit
van
Amsterdam
M
IND THE
G
AP
:
An explorative study of the Kinderfaculteit’s impressions
and practices on parenting
Student: Susan Kraaijeveld Student number: 6065260
Master thesis in ‘Social Policy and Social Work in Urban Areas’ Date: 15-08-2014
First supervisor: B. Paulle Second supervisor: C. Huisman
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Preface
This thesis represents the end of my academic education, at least for now. For five years, I enjoyed studying multiple subjects during my studies cultural anthropology and sociology. In my third year of anthropology, I was confronted with sociology of education, — and I was hooked. I thoroughly enjoyed researching the Kinderfaculteit, and I have learned a lot during the writing process.
I want to thank Patrick Brown, Bowen Paulle, and Chip Huisman for involving me in the research on the Kinderfaculteit. I also want to thank the parties involved in the
Kinderfaculteit for their hospitality and friendliness. Furthermore, I want to thank Casper, my parents, and my friends for supporting me. I know I have had my ups and downs, and I really appreciate all the pep talks I have received from you all. Lastly, thanks go to Guus and Timo, who spent precious time correcting my English.
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Contents
1. Introduction... 4
1.1. Structure... 5
2. Exploring (Vitaal) Pendrecht and the Kinderfaculteit: a contextual background... 6
2.1. (Vitaal) Pendrecht and the Kinderfaculteit: history and happenings ... 6
2.2. The Kinderfaculteit and its relation to the Dutch political climate... 8
3. Theoretical framework... 11
3.1. Bourdieu: reproducing class and habitus ... 11
3.2. Parenting styles and reproduction... 13
3.3. Stress: the effects and sources ... 15
3.4. Reflection: what can be done in the field of parenting?... 18
4. Research focus & research questions... 20
4.1. Research focus... 20
4.2. Research questions ... 21
5. Methodology ... 22
5.1. Collecting and analyzing data ... 23
5.2. Reflection ... 25
6. Impressions of parenting practices in Pendrecht………...28
6.1. Perceptions on parenting practices in Pendrecht part one: the importance of stimulating children’s development ... 28
6.2. Perceptions on parenting practices in Pendrecht part two: the importance of interaction between caregivers and children ... 30
7. Seeking coherence: analyzing the Kinderfaculteit’s informal goals in relation to impressions of parenting styles in Pendrecht ... 34
7.1. The Kinderfaculteit’s intent to increase children’s development ... 34
7.2. Stress reduction as one of the Kinderfaculteit’s goals ... 36
7.3. The Kinderfaculteit and its effects on social cohesion... 36
7.4. Integrating experiences with parenting practices into the practice of goal-formation... 38
8. Seeking coherence part two: analyzing the Kinderfaculteit’s interventions in relation to the impressions on parenting styles in Pendrecht ... 39
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8.1. Interventions at the level of the parents: classes on parental involvement... 39
8.2. The Kinderfaculteit’s interventions at the level of parents: increasing caregiver’s involvement in the Kinderfaculteit ... 40
8.3. The Kinderfaculteit’s interventions at the level of parents: influencing parenting styles ... 42
8.4. Comparing experiences and actual interventions regarding parenting styles in Pendrecht... 44
9. Filling the gap: a combination of the two-generational approach and practices observed at the Kinderfaculteit ... 46
9.1. The two-generational approach and its possible relevance for the Kinderfaculteit ... 46
9.2. The coherence between practices and ideas observed at the Kinderfaculteit and the ideas of the two-generational approach... 48 10. Conclusion ... 52 10.1. Discussion ... 53 Bibliography ... 54 Appendix 1: Codes ... 58 Appendix 2: quotes... 60
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1. Introduction
On the 15th of January 2014, an ambitious intervention called ‘the Kinderfaculteit’ has been implemented in Pendrecht, which is a neighborhood in the southern part of Rotterdam1. The Kinderfaculteit is a unique initiative created by ‘Vitaal Pendrecht’, a resident organization that promotes social cohesion in Pendrecht. The intervention is financed by ‘Stichting De Verre Bergen’, SDVB for short¹. The Kinderfaculteit is a project that wants to stimulate children’s development. On the long run, the coordinators of the project aspire to increase children’s educational attainment and income levels (SDVB 2013:1). By doing so, they hope to create increased social cohesion among inhabitants. The Kinderfaculteit provides activities for children in Pendrecht in order to accomplish these goals. Examples of these activities are various kinds of sports, reading classes and lessons that stimulate children’s creativity. However, when analyzing the policy documents of the Kinderfaculteit, I noticed that
caregivers are barely mentioned. Caregivers appeared to play a small role in the project, and in the policy documents they do not seem to be perceived as crucial factors that can help the Kinderfaculteit accomplish its main objectives.
In this thesis, the importance of parenting and its relation to the prevention of disadvantages among children will be explored. Three types of theories will be used to
highlight why parents, and other adults that help raise children, should be involved in projects that try to alter structural inequality among children. These types of theories are Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory, Lareau’s theory on types of parenting, and theories on stress and interaction. Mainly because parenting seems to be such an important factor in preventing inequality, I wondered whether the Kinderfaculteit was aware of this importance. The policy documents barely mentioned caregivers and I wanted to know whether caregivers and parenting styles were more intensively addressed and/or recognized by the parties that actually carried out the Kinderfaculteit and its programs. The types of theories are linked to these informal perceptions on caregivers and parenting among the parties involved in the Kinderfaculteit. After analyzing these perceptions, I will examine whether there exists a gap between the Kinderfaculteit’s informal impressions on parenting, and it’s actual practices in relation to the Kinderfaculteit’s main objectives. With practices, I mean the formation of informal goals and the creation of interventions by the parties involved in the Kinderfaculteit.
1
Exact starting date and general information about the Kinderfaculteit can be found on the website of ‘Stichting De Verre Bergen’: http://www.deverrebergen.nl/2014/02/kinderfaculteit-in-pendrecht-van-start/ Last visit: 29-7-2014.
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There will also be explored whether there are ways to narrow the possible gap. This led to the following research question:
To what degree does a gap possibly exist between the informal impressions on different parenting styles in Pendrecht and the practices of the Kinderfaculteit and how might this gap be narrowed?
The study that is carried out in order to answer this question is an explorative study. Because the intervention is still in its pilot phase, it is impossible to create conclusive answers on my research question. This thesis should not be perceived as a critique on the Kinderfaculteit, but as a descriptive effort informed by observations, interviews, and different forms of research, which can be used to reflect on the project.
1.1. Structure
In the following chapter, the history of the Kinderfaculteit and the project’s relation to the Dutch political climate will be explained. Doing so might help understand the experiences of the people involved in the project. Furthermore, an understanding of the situation of
inhabitants of Pendrecht will be given. In chapter three, three types of theories will be explored and linked to the situation of these inhabitants. Chapter four will elaborate on the research focus and the research questions. Chapter five will contain an explanation of the methods that are used for answering these research questions. Chapter six will focus on the Kinderfaculteit’s impressions of parenting styles in Pendrecht, after which chapter seven and eight will explore the ways in which these impressions are coherent to the Kinderfaculteit’s practices. Chapter nine will contain suggestions that can be used to close a possible gap between impressions and practices on parenting styles. In chapter ten, the main research question will be answered and there will be reflected upon the research.
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2. Exploring (Vitaal) Pendrecht and the Kinderfaculteit: a contextual
background
In sociology, many researchers focus on the importance of understanding the interwovenness of social phenomena and dynamics. According to this relational perspective, everything is socially interdependent and people, projects and decisions always have a history that
influences them. People and (their mental) projects are part of a social structure: they are not isolated concepts, but emerge next to each other and intertwine with each other. An
interaction has taken place before every action or decision that is ever made. The
Kinderfaculteit can be seen as a field in which people and their mental projects coexist and influence each other through interaction and (shared) experiences. Knowing the history and social importance of the Kinderfaculteit enabled me to understand the actions and reactions of people I met in the project. Furthermore, knowing the Kinderfaculteit’s and Pendrecht’s history gave me insight in the (in)formal framework on parenting and interventions used by the people associated with Vitaal Pendrecht and the Kinderfaculteit.
2.1. (Vitaal) Pendrecht and the Kinderfaculteit: history and happenings
In the early ‘50s Rotterdam suffered a huge housing shortage caused by the bombings during the Second World War and the baby boom that followed the war. In response to the housing problem, new neighborhoods were built rapidly, Pendrecht being one of them (dS+V
Rotterdam 2004). In its early years, it was a privilege to live in Pendrecht; the houses were new, architectural highlights and they were relatively large and luxurious for that time2. However, the popularity and living circumstances of Pendrecht decreased fast. Fifty years after its creation, Pendrecht was deemed a problematic neighborhood on multiple fronts; the area scored very poorly on factors such as violence, nuisance and poverty (Municipality of Rotterdam 2010:63).
Pendrecht also received negative (media) attention various instances during the last fifteen years. The neighborhood was declared a ‘Vogelaarwijk’ in 2007, which meant that Pendrecht was considered one of the forty most problematic areas in the Netherlands. Furthermore, Pendrecht was characterized by the media as a dangerous place to be. Multiple
2
According to Mario Bosch, an active citizen of Pendrecht, who has created a weblog about Pendrecht. His analysis of the history of Pendrecht can be found on: http://www.mario-bosch.nl/pendrecht-introductie.htm Last visit: 2-7-2014.
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incidents led to this media construction. Firstly, and most importantly, the murder on thirteen year old Sedar Soares in 2003. Sedar was killed while throwing snowballs on cars that passed by. The boy was fatally shot after throwing a ball at the car of a vengeful individual and died the day after the incident. Despite multiple witnesses being present at the shooting, nobody made a statement against the suspected killer, Gerald H. This event shocked the entire neighborhood and created distrust among neighbors: apparently, a child could get shot, without anyone taking action (Boom 2011:45). To make matters worse, another streak of incidences made their mark on Pendrecht in 2005. A group of boys, ranging from eight to fourteen years old, raped a thirteen year old girl multiple times. Three years later, another seven year old girl was sexually assaulted on the same location the initial rapes took place (ibid 2011:45).
Partially in light of these events, multiple parties believed that something had to be done in this neighborhood and therefore Pendrecht and its problems became the center of (political) attention. The municipality of Rotterdam decided that big parts of the area were to be rebuilt or demolished in order to make the area safer and more attractive. Housing
corporations also aided in creating a better environment: they screened new inhabitants and created better living circumstances. Gentrification became a goal as the municipality and corporations worked together to improve Pendrecht by attracting middle class citizens to the area. With middle class citizens, the municipality mostly meant citizens who earn the average income, ‘modaal inkomen’ in Dutch, which is approximately two thousand Euros gross a month (ibid 2011:44-47). By gentrifying Pendrecht, the municipality probably hoped to ‘reshuffle’ the class-composition of the area, which was supposed to elevate the
neighborhood. Gary Bridge states that this assumption is a common argument of
municipalities and argues that gentrifiers often impose gentrification in order to manifest a middle-class habitus and enlarge the area’s economic and cultural capital. According to Bridge, gentrifiers opt for this intervention, because they think that the stimulation of certain dispositions and the increase of capitals might help the area’s citizens to develop themselves more appropriately (Bridge 2001:206).
The physical and demographical restructurings of the area were not the only actions that were taken to improve Pendrecht. Inhabitants of Pendrecht wanted a better image of their neighborhood, and, most importantly, wanted to restructure Pendrecht on a social front, improving the social cohesion among Pendrecht’s inhabitants (Boom 2011:45). To improve this social cohesion, active citizens voluntarily founded the organization ‘Vitaal Pendrecht’ in 2005. Vitaal Pendrecht organizes many community projects, such as parties, sport events and
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courses. One of the highlights created by the organization is the Pendrecht University, in which adult inhabitants of Pendrecht can share knowledge with each other3.
A project for the youth of Pendrecht, the ‘Kindercampus’, was founded in 2007. The project was financed and run by a cooperation of Pendrecht’s schools and the municipality of Rotterdam. However, the municipality eventually stopped the funding of the project, which led to financial difficulties. Mostly because of this, the project ceased to exist. Many
members of Vitaal Pendrecht were disappointed that a project for the youth of Pendrecht was absent. During a meeting for inhabitants, volunteers of Vitaal Pendrecht asked inhabitants of Pendrecht whether a project for the youth should continue. It seemed that many inhabitants thought it should. Partly due to this finding, Vitaal Pendrecht sought new parties that could provide money for a new start of the Kindercampus. In 2013, the organization made an agreement with the philanthropic organization ‘Stichting de Verre Bergen’, SDVB for short, that enabled the volunteers of Vitaal Pendrecht to create a new project for children in
Pendrecht: the Kinderfaculteit. The SDVB financed the Kinderfaculteit with a staggering 3,5 million Euros, enabling the project to expand4. Furthermore, the SDVB hired two researchers of the University of Amsterdam to monitor and research the workings and effects of the Kinderfaculteit. The two researchers are accompanied by multiple students, including me, that write their graduation thesis on the Kinderfaculteit. It is this form of investment, and the willingness and voluntary involvement of inhabitants that make this project so unique. In the following sub-section I will elaborate on the project’s uniqueness, especially regarding the current political climate in the Netherlands.
2.2. The Kinderfaculteit and its relation to the Dutch political climate
In 2007, the Dutch government created a policy for children and their families called Alle
Kansen voor Alle Kinderen (Rijksoverheid 2007). The policy was created by a Ministry for
Youth and Families that was founded that same year. The ministry was abolished shortly thereafter in 2010, when its tasks were incorporated in other ministries once more. However, the program was quite influential in formulating a norm for policies that focused on children and families, as will be explained in the next paragraphs.
One of the main goals of the Dutch child-policy is to strengthen the position of the
3
For more information, see the website of Vitaal Pendrecht and the Pendrecht University:
http://www.pendrecht-universiteit.nl/ Last visit: 2-7-2014.
4
According to RTL Rijnmond. Information to be found on: http://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/12-08-2013/vitaal-pendrecht-gered-met-miljoenengift Last visit: 2-7-2014.
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family. Parents can always ask pedagogical organizations for advice on child rearing and parents are supported when they are in financial need. When families are immersed in very depriving situations, children can also be placed in foster care until the family is stable again (ibid 2007:10-11). Raising and educating children is generally perceived as the responsibility of the parents (ibid 2007:12). Perhaps because of this, most of the government’s policies are predominantly focused on advising parents and creating extra possibilities for children, instead of on intervening at the level of the parents. Interventions that are binding and focused on parents are uncommon, partly because these forms of interventions might be conceptualized as conflicting with liberal standards5. Furthermore, due to a mix of factors relating to the financial crisis and a new political, partly neo-liberal, discourse, projects are decreasingly financed by the Dutch government. The government announced the idea that the Dutch society should be a ‘participatiesamenleving’: a society in which citizens participate voluntarily and in which citizens should be less dependent on the state6. In general, the Dutch government propagates that projects should strive to minimize the funding provided by the government and actively organize their own projects with volunteers.
A project that seems to meet the requirements set by the government’s new agenda is the Kinderfaculteit. The project may be on the brink of a new era of policy making and organizational restructuring due to its funding by a third party, SDVB, instead of the
government. Additionally, the project is mostly led by the volunteers and active citizens. Five schools are also voluntarily involved in the organization of the project. The Kinderfaculteit provides activities for children, such as creative activities, reading classes and sports. The project also tries to create some benefits for parents. While their children potentially develop themselves during the activities, parents are offered compensations that might help them change their family’s social position in Dutch society. Examples of these compensations are monetary compensations or free courses that can be received or followed when parents become involved in the Kinderfaculteit. However, on the level of parenting, the
Kinderfaculteit seems to avoid binding interventions.
The Kinderfaculteit appears to have anticipated recent policy shifts that propagate neighborhood participation and independency of the state. It also conforms to the
5
According to ‘Nederlands Jeugd Instituut’, a research institute that is often mentioned in government reports. More information can be found on: http://www.nji.nl/nl/Kennis/Databanken/Liberale-moraal-en-preventieve-gezinsinterventie Last visit: 2-7-2014.
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The term was used by the Dutch king and used in his troonrede. After this, the term became even more popular. Further information about the concept can be found on the website of the Dutch government:
http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/toespraken/2013/09/17/troonrede-2013.html Last visit: 2-7-2014
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government’s agenda on child-policy. The independency of the project seems to be something that the volunteers, and the neighborhood, are very proud of. However, the political relevancy of the project might also place a burden on the people associated with the Kinderfaculteit. Many (governmental) organizations might be interested in the project because it is one of the first projects that is in line with the recent policy-changes regarding non-profit projects. The interest others have in the project can influence decisions that the people involved in the project make. Because many people are interested in the project, many of the parties involved in the Kinderfaculteit might feel even more cautious and motivated in making the project (look) successful. As will be explained later, the broad interest in the project even influenced my own research. In de next chapter, three types of theories will be linked to Pendrecht and the families that live in the area. I will elaborate upon the importance of parenting and the possible need for the Kinderfaculteit to conceptualize parenting styles as an integral part of changing structural inequality, despite the Dutch political climate
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3. Theoretical framework
In the following paragraphs, three types of theories will be linked to each other: theories on social reproduction, theories on forms of parenting and theories on stress. The types of theories will each be explored before they will be interwoven and used to show their relevance for the situation in Pendrecht.
3.1. Bourdieu: reproducing class and habitus
The thesis will be led by multiple ideas on the importance of parenting and social reproduction. One of the founders of theories on social reproduction is Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu stated that people’s behavior and skills are strongly influenced by one’s social environment, especially during childhood. The home situation and the ways in which parents raise their children can influence the child’s knowledge, behavior and opportunities.
According to Bourdieu, a child’s behavior and knowledge is generally the result of the care-giver’s behavior and knowledge (Bourdieu 1979, 1977). To better understand this, one first has to understand Bourdieu’s position on the importance of social and mental structures, which is mostly formed in his attempt to get beyond theories of objectivism and subjectivism. An objectivist approach tries to uncover the objective system of relations (social structures) that determine the behavior of individuals. The subjectivist approach takes the individual’s representations as its basis. According to subjectivists, social reality ‘… is but the sum total of the innumerable acts of interpretation whereby people jointly construct meaningful lines of (inter)action’ (Wacquant 2007:267). Bourdieu thought that objectivism and subjectivism should be intertwined. Social structures can form constraints upon the individual and influence individual’s choices and actions, while mental structures can help alter the social system through interaction and interpretation (ibid 2007:267). The behavior of people is influenced by these social constraints and patterns of interaction: these principles both form people’s habitus. Habitus is ‘…the system of durable and transposable dispositions through which we perceive, judge and act in the world’ (ibid 2007:267). Habitus determines and is determined by one’s position in the field. A field is a sphere of life, such as the educational field. One of the mediators that can determine one’s position in the field is capital. Capital is ‘… any resource effective in a given social arena that enables one to appropriate the specific profits arising out of participation and contest it’ (ibid 2007:268).
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Capital has three forms: economic, cultural and social capital (Bourdieu 1986:122). Economic capital is directly transferable into money, such as property. Cultural capital is a broader concept that is sometimes convertible into money, and in other times can be said to comprise skills. Social capital consists of connections and relations (ibid 1986:122). For Bourdieu, cultural capital is a very important and complex form of capital and he said that there are multiple ways in which cultural capital exists; which is embodied, objectified and institutionalized. Embodied cultural capital contains skills and dispositions. It is the habitus, since it contains the dispositions that determine how we act and perceive the world.
Objectified cultural capital consists of cultural goods that express certain valid values, such as art, documentaries and instruments (ibid 1986:122). Lastly, institutionalized cultural capital is a form of cultural capital, which consists of capital that is institutionally recognized, such as a diploma (ibid 1986:130-131).
Having certain types of capital in- or decreases the amount of objective power one has. Some types of dispositions and capital are constructed as being more important than others, possibly resulting in the devaluation of other forms of capital and behavior. Bourdieu associates the ability to define what is a legitimate form of capital or habitus with ‘symbolic capital’. He considers this form of capital to be the most important of all. Due to the unequal distribution of types of capital, many (lower-class) people do not have the ability to live up to the dominant story in society. To sum it up, people are socialized in a structure in which a certain set of capitals is provided to them. Some people are disadvantaged in this structure, because they do not have the capitals that enable them to change, or live up to, the dominant standards and institutions. As Lareau explains it:
‘Bourdieu argues that individuals of different social locations are socialized differently. This socialization provides children, and later adults, with a sense of what is cultural or what is natural… These background experiences also shape the amount and forms of resources individuals inherit and draw upon as they confront various institutional arrangements in de social world’ (Lareau 2003:275).
Because people are socialized in a certain way, they often reproduce the dispositions and class of their parents. They inherit and internalize the order that is known to them, and they learn the set of skills and dispositions that is of use to their specific place in the social space. Lower-class people are often more disadvantaged in society than higher- or middle-class people are, because lower-class people generally do not have the capitals (yet) to change this
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order and alter their position in the social structure.
In many neighborhoods in Rotterdam, including Pendrecht, a big percentage of the children are immersed in poor conditions (Lusse 2013:19). In the distribution of capitals children in Pendrecht overall draw the short straw. Research has pointed out that that in Pendrecht, many children grow up in families with few economic resources, such as money (ibid 2013:19). Furthermore, many of these children might have internalized forms of embodied cultural capital that do not fit with the dominant expectations that are reproduced by Dutch institutions. The dispositions and behavior that many of these children display are generally considered to be lower-class (ibid 2013:18). Dutch institutions often reproduce middle-class dispositions, and therefore children in Pendrecht are more likely to experience a misfit with these institutions. An example of these institutions is the educational sphere, which is an important indicator of the children’s success. Many children in Pendrecht score quite poorly in the educational sphere, especially when one compares them to middle-class children that live in other areas. Children in Pendrecht might not be able to live up to the expectations schools have, possibly leading to the acquisition of lower grades and lower-ranked diplomas (a form of institutionalized cultural capital) (ibid 2013:19). The last form of capital, social capital, might also be fairly scarce or weak among lower-class children in Pendrecht. Research has showed that many caregivers of lower-class children in Pendrecht are less involved than middle-class caregivers in other areas seem to be. This could mean that the social capital of children in Pendrecht comprises of weak social relations (ibid 2013:44). The shortage in and the composition of the lower-class children’s capital might make it more difficult for children in Pendrecht to live up to the dominant set of values. Compared to middle-class children, lower-class children in Pendrecht generally have less life-chances that enable them to gain a higher ranking position in Dutch society. Due to the scientifically recognized lack of capitals among Pendrecht’s children, recognizing the threat of social reproduction seems to be very relevant in studying the situation of children in Pendrecht and the Kinderfaculteit.
3.2. Parenting styles and reproduction
Heavily influenced by Pierre Bourdieu, Annette Lareau argues in her book Unequal
Childhoods that there are two forms of parenting that can be associated with class differences
(Lareau 2003:2-3). The first form of parenting that she identifies is called ‘concerted
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form of child rearing where the child’s cognitive and social development are thoroughly stimulated. The middle-class child is often taught a sense of entitlement and it is taught how to handle authority-figures, such as teachers. The child learns to constantly question his or her position in order to climb the social ladder (ibid 2003:5-6). Lareau defines the second form of child rearing as ‘accomplishment of natural growth’. In this form of child rearing, the child is less often challenged or stimulated to cognitively and socially develop. Lareau thinks that this form of parenting is often provided by lower-class parents who simply do not have the
material and symbolic capitals that enable them to provide practices that help stimulate their children’s development. For most of these parents it is truly considered a success when a child gets enough to eat to get by when growing up (ibid 2003:5-7). Many lower-class
children are not taught how to handle authority in a beneficial way, nor do they develop skills that give them the possibility to change their position in the social space. These children often feel a sense of constraint when confronted with authorities, such as teachers. Partly because of this, children tend to accept authorities and/or resist them in a way that is considered negative by these authorities (ibid 2003:6).
The embodied cultural capital that is reproduced among middle-class children often coincides with the dominant set of repertoires that are formed by professionals, whereas dispositions and skills learned by the lower-class children generally do not (ibid 2003:4). Examples of these professionals are teachers, doctors and politicians. The disruption or accordance with the dominant set of repertoires may lead to the transmission of differential advantages to children. This means that middle-class children overall learn skills that help them maintain their middle-class position or that help them achieve an even higher position in society. By learning to discuss or interact with authority figures, such as teachers, middle-class children can be taught the rules of the game in a way that benefits them. When lower-class children are confronted with these same social rules, they generally lack the right dispositions that are needed to change or conform to these rules. Their skills are often considered less valuable in the field, making it harder for them to gain a higher socio-economic status (ibid 2003:5).
Lareau has written a ground-breaking introduction in the importance of parenting, which contains many ideas that are useful for this thesis. She acknowledges that there are types of parenting that are or are not beneficial for children. Another important point she makes regards the importance of interaction between caregivers and their children. Lareau describes that lower-class children often cannot negotiate with their caregivers, and that there exists a strong division between adults and children among lower-class families. She thinks
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that lower-class adults generally interact less with their children (ibid 2003:32). Interacting with a child, she states, helps the child’s language development, reasoning and sense of entitlement. It also enables the parents to intervene in the educational development of the child (ibid 2003:32). Overall, middle-class parents seem to be more aware of the positive effects interaction can have on their children. Partly because of these possible benefits, middle-class caregivers seem to interact more with their children than most lower-class caregivers do.
Additionally, new research pointed out that communication and active involvement of the caregivers also seem to mediate between the prevention of behavioral problems and stress among children (Lee et al. 2011:484). It appears that parents of lower classes can manipulate certain factors in their parenting style in order to minimize the negative effects, such as stress, that their lack of capitals might have on their children. Furthermore, negative interactions, such as neglect or yelling, can increase the level of stress experienced by children. The (negative) effects of stress and interaction will be elaborated upon in the next sub-section.
3.3. Stress: the effects and sources
Stress falls somewhere in the spectrum of parenting, capital and habitus. It might even be conceptualized as a form of capital: emotional stability-capital. Stress can alter the habitus in a specific, both socially and bodily, way. In the process of social reproduction, stress can form and distort the acquisition of certain dispositions and skills that can be used when moving in social space. Due to these possible effects, parenting styles should mediate stress in a way that benefits the child. In this sub-section will be explained how these processes work.
Stress is a broad concept, but in this thesis the concept will be inspired by the definition of stress as conceptualized in Weiting et al.’s article Affluence, Feelings of Stress, and
Well-Being. The authors define stress as: ‘…the negative cognitive and emotional states elicited
when people realize that the demands placed on them by the environment exceeds their ability to cope (Weiting et al. 2008:258). Stress can be caused by a lack of resources. With resources, Weiting et al. did not only mean money, but all phenomena one can run short on (ibid 2008:258). Examples are time, social support, and financial resources. There seem to be two types of stress: perceived stress and physiological stress. Perceived stress entails the subjective experiences of stress, while physiological stress entails a more physical (bodily) form of stress (ibid 2008:258). In this thesis, experiences of stress will be conceptualized as
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mental and bodily experiences that are intertwined with each other. I will start with an explanation of perceived stress, after which I will explain physiological stress. Both forms of stress will be linked to parenting.
It seems that children or adolescents who experience high levels of stress are more prone to weaker emotional stability. Their experiences of stress (perceived stress) might have a negative effect on their emotional and social development. People who experience stress regularly seem to develop a lower self-esteem and a higher risk of developing depressions. Furthermore, children who experience stress are more likely to develop behavior and dispositions that are conceptualized as ‘problematic’ by society and its institutions, such as schools (Aunola & Nurmi 2005, Shek 2005:376). It appears that externalizing behavior that is considered problematic might influence the child’s educational development, since
educational institutions generally do not value behavior that is deviant from their expectations (Lee et al. 2011:486). Moreover, when a person does not have the resources and set of
dispositions that he or she is expected to have, this can create feelings of stress and
frustration, possibly creating a vicious circle of stress and its negative effects. On this subject, Bourdieu said that '...they [students/children] are always in search of what they are, so what they do seems to concern their whole being' (Bourdieu 1979:70). Hence, experiencing a disruption between the expectations of the social environment and the actual self might influence the children’s self-worth negatively, because some children might not be able to live up to their own expectations. This can reinforce their experiences of stress, strengthening the negative effects stress can have (or already has). An example can be a child who is
already experiencing stress, and who as a result displays behavior that is considered problematic. When the child displays this behavior at school, he or she is likely to be disapproved by the teacher. This can reinforce the child’s level of stress, possibly
strengthening the negative behavior that might be caused by earlier experiences of stress. On a physiological level, stress can literally alter the brain. Research showed that stress affects the brain’s architecture of learning and memorizing, thereby negatively effecting a person’s development. The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child argues that during long-term exposure to stress, the ‘… regions of the brain involved in fear, anxiety, and impulsive responses may overproduce neural connections while those regions dedicated to reasoning, planning, and behavioral control may produce fewer neural connections’ (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2014:2). The organization’s investigations
pointed out that stress does not only affect the social and emotional development of a person, but also the bodily development of a person. Children that are exposed to stress under
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develop on cognitive, social and emotional levels, partly due to the fact that their brain misses the specific neural connections to do so. Hence, it seems that stress is a social and a physical experience (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2010:1).
Because of its effects on children’s development, stress might mediate and even strengthen processes of social reproduction (Lee et al. 2011:486). As mentioned, certain forms of development, such as educational development, are strong indicators of children’s possibilities into changing their position in the social structure. In addition to this, Spijkers et al. have found that parents and children in deprived areas experience higher levels of stress (Spijkers et al. 2012). Due to this reason, lower-class children might be severely
disadvantaged in comparison to most middle-class children. It seems that many lower-class children can be disadvantaged with regard to their development in twofold: firstly, because of the lack and composition of their capitals, and secondly, because of their greater risk of experiencing stress and its negative effects.
Involvement of caregivers and strong community ties are known to be very influential on children’s well-being (McLanahan & Sandefur 1994, Carpiano & Timbro 2012).
Interactional patterns might reinforce or create both perceived and bodily forms of stress. Through negative interactions, such as yelling, stress can be imposed by the parents onto the children, possibly creating or increasing the child’s level of stress and its negative effects. In their article Parenting Practices in Preschool Leading to Later Cognitive Competence: A
Family Stress Model Nievar et al. state that lower-class caregivers can not only reinforce
stress and its effects; they can also mediate it. During their research, they state to have found that ‘…an enriched environment mediates more than one fourth of the effect of income on children’s cognitive outcomes’ (Nievar et al. 2014:331). According to Nievar et al, positive parenting, including communication and parental involvement, seem to stimulate children’s development in a bodily and socio-emotional manner by reducing (economical) stress and its negative effects on children’s development. Hence, interaction between children and
caregivers seems to be a key factor in slowing down the effects stress has on social reproduction.
Since Pendrecht is considered to be one of the most deprived areas in the Netherlands, the topic of stress might be very relevant with regard to families in Pendrecht. It is possible that stress, and the forms of parenting that mediate or reinforce stress, might exert influence on the relatively poor (educational) outcomes among children in Pendrecht. Because of these reasons, I wonder whether the Kinderfaculteit recognizes certain unbeneficial parenting styles among Pendrecht’s caregivers. Furthermore, I am interested in the interventions that are taken
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regarding this topic.
3.4. Reflection: what can be done in the field of parenting?
Creating interventions on the level of caregivers is difficult. As explained in the last chapter, child rearing is often seen as the responsibility of the parent. Many policies focus on
interventions that are not binding in order to prevent patronizing parents. It seems that there exists a fear for exerting paternalism when intervening in childcare and education. Various researchers state that intervening in parenting and education is an attempt of implicitly
imposing dominant value systems onto subjects (Kulz 2013:14). Interventions might force the dominant values onto its target groups, reinforcing the existing hierarchy and further
devaluing the dispositions, skills and positions of the people subjected to the intervention. People who reject parenting-interventions often claim that in parenting, there is no right or wrong. However, according to the aforementioned research, this might not be entirely accurate. It certainly is the case that most parents mean well and make the choices they think are best for their children, but this is not always in the best interest of their children; some children might not develop themselves properly on an educational, physical and emotional level when they are subjected to a certain form of parenting. Partly because of this reason, interventions on parenting might be needed, despite the resistance that seems to exist against these forms of interventions.
Frontiers of Innovation, FoI for short, thinks that it is time to look at more intensive, unconventional programs that produce significantly greater effects, despite the fact that many people consider intensive interventions as paternalistic (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2014:1). Two of the FoI’s members, Jack Shonkoff and Philip Fisher, argue that a new form of early childhood policy and practice must be explored. This ‘two-generational approach’, as it has been called, searches for more effective strategies that reduce the intergenerational cycle of economic and social disadvantages (Shonkoff & Fisher 2013). According to Shonkoff and Fisher, child policies should be implemented as early as possible in order to have intensive effects on children, partly because science points out that the cognitive and physical development of the child starts at a very early stage (Shonkoff and Fisher 2013:1640). Since the development of children unfolds in the contexts of the
relationship between the child and the important adult that is present in the child’s life, Shonkoff and Fisher argue that attention should be paid to increasing the involvement of parents and caregivers towards their children.
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Recent policies often focus on children or adults. Shonkoff and Fisher argue that the effects these programs have are moderate at best. Adult-focused or child-focused
interventions can have positive effects, but overall they do not change persistent inequality. The authors state that social mobility seems to be only slightly affected by programs that focus on one of the two generations. Thus, interventions should include programs that intervene in the early childhood and involve both caregivers and children combined: a two-generational approach (ibid 2013:1640). In the two-two-generational approach, interdisciplinary science is considered to be a catalyst for new ideas and intensive policies. Insights that are gained throughout various branches of science might promote and innovate these strategies. Because strategies are grounded in science, interventions are not completely driven by personal beliefs or loyalty to specific programs or ideologies (ibid 2013:1642).
As the last paragraphs have showed, parenting can be a very important factor in the process of social reproduction. Because of this reason, this thesis will assess how parties involved in the Kinderfaculteit frame the importance of parenting in relation to their
practices. The comparison will show whether there exists a gap between impressions and the interventions of the Kinderfaculteit with regard to parenting. Insights from this theoretical framework and insights from the involved parties themselves will be used to narrow the possible gap, as will all be explained in the next chapter.
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4. Research focus & research questions
4.1. Research focus
As elaborated upon in the last chapter, caregivers can have different parenting styles, which promote different forms of interaction with children. Some parenting styles, such as the accomplishment of natural growth described by Lareau, might give children a set of skills that impedes them in terms of climbing the social ladder. Furthermore, certain forms of parenting appear to foster stress, reinforcing the under-development of children. The
Kinderfaculteit states that it desires to stimulate social-emotional and cognitive development of children of Pendrecht. Partly because of this desire, parenting might be an important aspect of the program (SDVB 2013:1). Due to this reason, I want to know to which degree the topic of parenting is integrated in the Kinderfaculteit.
I wish to research the extent to which a gap possibly exists between the interpretations and experiences with regard to parenting styles in Pendrecht, and the actual practices the people associated with Kinderfaculteit have carried out with regard to influencing and involving caregivers. With practices, I mean the practice of goal formation, and the practice of creating interventions such as activities for children. It is possible that the parties involved in the Kinderfaculteit recognize negative forms of parenting, but do not act on their
experiences with these forms of parenting. This might hinder the Kinderfaculteit in its pursuit of helping children in Pendrecht develop more properly. By recognizing a possible gap, I hope to confront the people involved in the Kinderfaculteit on the possibility that they might not accomplish their own goals when intervening in a certain way. Based on my findings, I seek to present ideas on possible future interventions in order to contribute to a discussion which might help generate ideas about narrowing this gap between experiences, goals and actual interventions regarding the issue of parenting. The discussion will be grounded in outcomes of earlier research that is carried out by sociologists that support the
two-generational approach. It will also be grounded into the actual findings regarding parenting at the Kinderfaculteit. Remaining grounded in the actual findings might make my suggestions about how things might develop in the future more useful for the involved parties, since their own situations, practices and ideas can be represented in these suggestions. Ultimately, I hope that the Kinderfaculteit can become an inspiration for other projects that have the same goal of creating long-term beneficial effects for disadvantaged children.
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4.2. Research questions
In accordance with my research focus my research question will be the following:
To what degree does a gap possibly exist between the informal impressions on different parenting styles in Pendrecht and the practices of the Kinderfaculteit and how might this gap be narrowed?
To fully answer this question, the main research question will be split up in three sub-questions. The first question will focus on the formation of goals of the parties involved in the Kinderfaculteit. It will state: What are the Kinderfaculteits’s informal goals and how do
these goals correspond to the involved parties’ experiences and ideas on parenting practices in Pendrecht? The second sub question will focus on the creation of interventions carried out
by the Kinderfaculteit. The second question will be: What interventions are created with
regard to parenting and how do these interventions correspond to the impressions the involved parties have on different parenting styles? The last sub question will explore how
the possible gap can be closed, using ideas of the parties involved in the Kinderfaculteit. The ideas on parenting and possible future interventions of the involved parties will be linked to and combined with the ideas of the two-generational approach in order to create new insights for the Kinderfaculteit. The last sub question will state: Given the possible gap that has fallen
between the Kinderfaculteit’s impressions and practices on parenting styles, how can the gap be narrowed using the Kinderfaculteit’s own ideas and ideas of the two-generational
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5. Methodology
This research is led by an abductive mode of thinking. This means that the research started with the search for the explanation of a ‘puzzle’ or a ‘tension’: an issue I want to understand. In this thesis, the issue I want to understand is the possible existence of a gap between the Kinderfaculteit’s impressions and practices. Contrary to inductive or deductive modes of thought, abductive reasoning is not a linear process (Schwartz-Shea & Yanow 2012:27-28). Abductive reasoning is an interplay between theory and observations. Schwartz-Shea and Yanow describe it as:
‘In this puzzling-out process, the researcher tacks continually, constantly, back and forth in an iterative–recursive fashion between what is puzzling and possible explanations for it, whether in other fields of situations (e.g., other observations, other documents or visual representations, other participations, other interviews) or in research-relevant literature’ (ibid 2012:27).
I have chosen the abductive mode of reasoning because I did not want to exclude or ignore new, interesting questions and answers that differed from my initial expectations.
Furthermore, I do not think that using inductive methods is fully possible, because a
researcher can never be completely objective when entering the field. A researcher is always influenced by prior experiences and therefore always observes something with these prior experiences and ideas in mind. The fact that this research is conducted in an abductive way means that the research questions changed multiple times during my time in the field. An example is the fact that my research focus was first settled on analyzing parental
involvement, but changed into researching the informal views on parenting and parenting-interventions of the Kinderfaculteit. Furthermore, my manners in interviewing changed as I got to know people better, but also because I wanted to know new things. My time in the field constantly sparked new interests and new questions, leading to the definite questions as elaborated upon in chapter four. However, I never abandoned my initial theoretical framework and thus new and old ideas are combined in this thesis.
The methods that are used during this research are qualitative. There are multiple reasons for choosing qualitative methods. First of all, I have focused on patterns of
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the Kinderfaculteit. These three forms of social patterns cannot be neatly sealed off into strict variables. This makes them hard to standardize and therefore harder to measure with
quantitative methods (Schwartz-Shea & Yanow 2012:18). Furthermore, answers derived from qualitative research might be more extensive, enabling me to make my own, broad, interpretation. Some questions are not to be answered through, for example, a Likert scale, and doing so would create an incomplete image of the action that a person takes (ibid 2012:28).
5.1. Collecting and analyzing data
The methods that are chosen for collecting data are participant observations, interviews and discourse analysis of policy documents. For a period of seven weeks I have participated in the field for at least two days a week, ranging from three to five hours a day. My presence had a primarily active character: I volunteered at the Kinderfaculteit, helping the organization in multiple ways. However, after helping with activities, I also slipped into the background to observe the interactions between the involved people or to observe the activities kids took part in. I have witnessed fifteen activities in total. I mostly visited the Kinderfaculteit and its activities on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I have observed multiple kinds of activities, including ‘rock and water’ (rots and water in Dutch), express yourself, Spanish, journalism, reading classes, football and dancing classes. In the beginning, I felt that my presence changed the dynamics because the people I met did not know me and sometimes signaled that they were uncomfortable by my presence. This changed after two weeks, when I got to know people better and people adjusted to me. What was an important factor in this adjustment process was the fact that I changed my appearance a little; I changed my body language and I especially changed the way I spoke. Because I am born near Rotterdam, I speak the accent naturally. In an academic environment I often change my accent into an academic way of communicating (or what I believe to be an academic way of
communicating), but in Rotterdam I did not have to do so. Indeed, not changing my accent might have driven the people away from me, identifying me as being an ‘elite’ researcher. The field notes were made directly afterwards in order to prevent people from being
uncomfortable with me. However, quotes were mostly written down immediately. Sometimes only keywords were written down.
This thesis is also based on thirteen in-depth interviews. Half of the interviews were conducted on my own and during the other interviews I was accompanied by another
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research-student. Furthermore, many ‘informal’ interviews took place during observations in the field. I did not voice-record the informal interviews and I did not ask the permission from the interviewees to conduct a formal interview during these conversations. My choice for interviewing certain persons was strongly influenced by two factors: accessibility and friendliness. Because I was new to the Kinderfaculteit, it was more difficult to find people who were willing to be interviewed. People in the organizational sphere, such as school directors and the board members of the Kinderfaculteit, did not mind being interviewed. Partly because of this reason, I consider them to be very accessible. However, people who were not strictly bound to the organizational sphere, such as volunteers and parents, were very hard to approach and often turned down interviews. The parents and volunteers I have interviewed were mostly people I became quite friendly with. During my time in the field, we generally had some private conversations, increasing their confidence in me. Thus, the
interviews were not completely random, but partly based on my own accessibility and friendliness with the subjects. Furthermore, I interviewed people that I considered to be useful to me and that had a variety of views. This makes my choice for interviewees a
purposive sample (Bryman 2008:415). I have completely anonymized the interviewees in this thesis in order to protect them. I respect their privacy, and since they told me many things in confidence, I do not want my interviewees to be identified.
I want to explore a broad explanation on the Kinderfaculteit’s goals and interventions with regard to parenting. Therefore I have interviewed multiple parties that are located on different levels in the organizational hierarchy of the Kinderfaculteit. Because I focus on framing and the specific interventions that are created in the program, I have interviewed five people in the organizational sphere of the Kinderfaculteit. These subjects include two board members, one project-manager, and two school (adjunct) directors. To know the inner workings of the program, I also interviewed people that carried out the program on the non-organizational level. These interviewees include two volunteers that worked at the pick-up service and two teachers of activities given at the Kinderfaculteit. Futhermore, I interviewed five school employees (including the directors), because they also seemed to play an active role in the Kinderfaculteit. As I found out during my time in the field, many of the school employees helped inspire the Kinderfaculteit by enriching the program directly and indirectly, as I will detail later on. I also interviewed school personnel in order to get an image of the parenting practices that are carried out in Pendrecht. Three of the school
employees I spoke to were very involved with caregivers in Pendrecht; two of the employees gave classes in parental involvement, and one of the employees informed parents on their
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child’s development. Lastly, I interviewed two parents, of which one was a volunteer at the Kinderfaculteit. Some of the interviews were held in an informal setting; sometimes the interviewee and I sat outside, sometimes we sat in an office or ‘parent room’. Most of the times I conducted the interviews at the servicepoint (servicepunt in Dutch), where the office of the Kinderfaculteit was located. The interviews were semi-structured: questions were made, but the interviews were similar to a conversation in order to let the interviewees talk freely. This way I could ask questions, but I could also let people tell their own stories, which often entailed interesting and relevant topics. In doing so, I hoped to avoid influencing the answers and stories that interviewees told me. The interviews were all transcribed and coded in Atlas T.I.. The list of codes can be found in appendix 1.
The final form of data I have collected and analyzed consists of policy documents. The documents were used to underline the frames people alluded to, or diverged from, in interviews. Multiple documents of the Kinderfaculteit were analyzed in order to understand its standpoints. These documents were the startnotitie and the Kinderfaculteit’s program of activities. I have used framing analysis during my analysis of the policy documents. The use of framing analysis will be heavily influenced by Carol Bachhi’s work What’s The Problem
Represented to Be? In her book, Bacchi interprets texts, comparing the goals of programs to
the actual practices, and shows that there often exists a gap between the two. This coincides with my research question, making her work a great inspiration to me (Bachhi 2009).
5.2. Reflection
As stated in the previous sub-section, I changed my appearance in the field in order to get better access to the subjects that were located in the field. However, this is not the only way I influenced the field and the people that were in it. In chapter two I explained that the
Kinderfaculteit received quite some financial support on which the project is heavily dependent. This also influenced my interviews and the way I interacted with people. I sometimes felt that people did not want to give specific answers because they were scared that these answers could damage the reputation of the program. I understood this, and sometimes I also tried to prevent asking sensitive questions myself. However, the longer I participated, the more I formed my own opinion without caring to much about the
sensitivities; after all, it is my job, and the job of the researchers that come after me, to be honest and direct about the program in order to help create a better intervention. Furthermore, the fact that researchers will be visiting the Kinderfaculteit for five more years made me
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cautious about the way I treated people. I tried to carefully reach people and ask them for interviews without any commitment. Unfortunately, this led to great difficulties in making appointments and therefore in collecting data. An example of these difficulties is related to my attempt to reach parents in Pendrecht. During my volunteer work, I received a document which contained contact information of approximately forty parents in Pendrecht. Another research student and I sent all these parents an email in which we asked them permission for an interview. We only received one positive and three negative responses to our emails, the rest did not react at all.
In this thesis I focus on (positive) parenting, parental involvement and
communication. Most of the definitions are already explored in the theoretical framework, but I still want to emphasize that these concepts are formed by my interpretation of the for mentioned concepts. With parenting, I mean different forms of child rearing, carried out by caregivers. I use the concepts caregivers and parents alternately, since parenting might not solely be carried out by parents, but also by other family-members or family-friends. Most of the times my interpretations of these phenomena seemed similar to the interpretations of the interviewees. During the process of transcribing and analyzing the interviews, I have used multiple quotes that I found relevant for this thesis. It is my perception that the quotes used in the analysis coincide with my perception of certain concepts. In the analysis, the quotes are translated. I am very aware that it is possible that meaning can be lost during the process of translating interviews. Because of this reason, I added the translations of the quotes in appendix 2. When a quote is translated, it is marked with a small symbol, such as ᶥ. I have tried to translate the quotes as literally as possible. In doing so, I hoped to preserve the meaning of certain quotes and concepts.
My research is marked by the fact that it is an explorative study. It is the first of many studies that is to be focused on the Kinderfaculteit and it is yet to be compared to other projects. The Kinderfaculteit is still in its pilot phase and therefore it is still subject to possible teething problems that are characteristic of new programs. Due to this reason, the conclusions I will draw from the empirical findings might be premature and should be subject to further research. The information obtained in this research is my interpretation of the people and events that I have encountered during the seven weeks I was present in the field. Because I have interviewed many people that have different positions in the Kinderfaculteit, the arguments my interviewees have can differ from each other. This makes a broad
understanding of the subject, but it also makes the answers harder to generalize. Because of this reason, the analysis will not be representative for all the parties involved in the
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6. Impressions of parenting practices in Pendrecht
In order to understand the goals and interventions the people associated with Kinderfaculteit have formed in relation to parenting, one must first know the experiences the involved parties have with regard to parenting styles and practices in Pendrecht. In this chapter will be
assessed how the parties I have interviewed see and interpret parenting practices in Pendrecht. The parenting practices that will be focused upon are in line with the practices described in the theoretical framework; they include Lareau’s insights on the stimulation of children’s development and the insights on stress-reduction and interaction. The interviewees often mentioned their own explanations for the different forms of parenting that they
perceived in Pendrecht. Almost all explanations appeared to be based on the experienced existence of class-differences between different caregivers.
6.1. Perceptions on parenting practices in Pendrecht part one: the importance of stimulating children’s development
As mentioned in the previous chapters, many families in Pendrecht are considered to be ‘lower-class’. This means that many families in Pendrecht have relatively low income and educational attainment compared to members of other, more middle-class, families in the Netherlands. Class was an important explanation of differences between parenting styles for all interviewees. The people I have spoken to often indicated that a big part of the families in Pendrecht have a hard time getting by financially. Some of the parents have debts, are single parents, or have lowly-paid jobs. Many parents are relatively low educated and have poor proficiency of the Dutch language. One volunteer even told me: ‘Yes, if you ask yourself
whether these children are really poor… Yes, yes, they are. It’s very bad’.i According to the interviewees, the financial hardships that some families experience seem to lead to a different parenting style, which is more or less similar to the ‘accomplishment of natural growth’, as described by Lareau. Interviewees told me that a big part of the caregivers in Pendrecht do not have the money to provide extra-curricular activities that help children develop
themselves. One of the volunteers elaborated on this subject during our conversation and she said:
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Kinderfaculteit’s activities are fun for children, because they normally don’t partake in fun lessons. Their parents never bring them to activities. That’s why these children always act enthusiastic’.ii
It also seems that many parents are not familiar with stimulating activities their children can partake in (for free). A teacher that taught an activity at the Kinderfaculteit told me during an informal conversation that many parents do not stimulate their children. She thought that this severely influenced children’s creativity; according to her, children in Pendrecht often lack creativity and they seem to be ‘depending’ on entertainment created by electronic devices, such as a television or gaming consoles. One of the mothers also mentioned this multiple times in an interview. According to her, many parents just leave their children alone to watch television or to play on a computer, instead of stimulating their children to do activities that might help their children develop. The mother said:
‘But some parents just give their children a computer, and say: go play with that. That’s it.
You can also visit a play farm, or take a walk, that does not cost anything… That’s also part of children’s development, right?’.iii
It appears that many children in Pendrecht are not stimulated by their parents to the degree that children of more middle class parents generally are. The mother I have interviewed could be considered middle-class. Her husband had a decent, well-paid job (he earned at least the average income), and she told me that she was well-educated herself. The mother’s parenting style had a strong tendency towards Lareau’s concept of ‘concerted cultivation’. She seemed to encourage her daughter to do many activities that stimulate her development, such as extra-curricular courses (reading classes) and sport activities (judo). Even her son, who is still a baby, was stimulated from an early age on. In addition to the last quote, she told me that she stimulated her son by going to the play-farm, and that he seemed to benefit from visiting the play-farm and the small-talk she had with him during those visits. Her son was starting to learn the names of animals. She said: ‘I also have a son, he is one year now. A
mini-man. And now he wants.. He wants to catch the dogs and birds because he… He has learned what they are and how to define them [the animals and the sounds]’.iv
As Lareau described, following activities can provide children with knowledge on the institutional sphere. Additionally, Lareau thought that activities prepare children for coping with the dominant rules of society: children are taught the rules, dispositions and skills
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(embodied cultural capital) that are propagated by the dominant institutions in society, such as schools (Lareau 2003:5-6). By visiting the play-farm, the middle-class mother may have stimulated her son’s linguistic development. The child also gained knowledge about the world ‘outside’ the city. The mother might have taught him certain dispositions and linguistic capital that can be of use when her son (or daughter) will try and find his place in the social (or educational) structure. Furthermore, activities do not only stimulate the development of children by increasing their skills and knowledge; they can also increase the interaction that takes place between caregivers and children. As mentioned in the framework, interaction is a very important factor of parenting, which will be elaborated upon in the next sub-section.
6.2. Perceptions on parenting practices in Pendrecht part two: the importance of interaction between caregivers and children
According to some of the interviewees, some lower-class parents in Pendrecht seem to be less invested with their children than most middle-class parents seem to be. As explained in the theoretical framework, interaction between children and parents can potentially increase, mediate or reduce experiences of stress. In the framework, two forms of positive parenting and interaction that work stress-reducing were mentioned: communication and parental involvement. One of the volunteers who taught a reading-class in the Kinderfaculteit told me that many parents do not communicate with their children, often not knowing that
communication can be very beneficial for the child. According to her, the lack of interaction often starts at a very early age. Parents sometimes ignore the child for a very long time. One day she told me that some parents do not know that children can be positively affected by interaction through speech and even touch, as she said to me:
‘I told people about talking with your children, even your babies! They looked at me with disbelief. It is really important to talk to your children and even touch them. I taught them techniques for massaging your child, babies really like this’.v
The volunteer also told me that many parents felt hindered in their possibilities to become involved with their children. She thought that many parents felt restrained due to their lack of resources, such as money and time. This discouraged some parents with regard to
undertaking activities and interacting with their children, or help their children with their homework. According to the volunteer, even something as simple as small-talk could be
