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Family Day
Care as children see it
Dr Malene Karlsson, Sweden
Children are people too, that is a
truth that we all can agree on, theoretically. That
children have rights was established by the United Nations'
Convention on Children's Rights. In this it is clearly
stated that children have a right to a say on all matters
concerning them.
In Scandinavia, this was ratified
at-once, and for instance in Denmark all institutions
for older children have a council of children. But also
the youngest children ought to have a chance to make
themselves heard, even if they do not have a very well
developed language.
In the project "To be a special place, to be
special there" in the Danish island of Bornholm,
I was given the possibility to put into practice my
wish to find tools to enable the young children in family
day care to express their opinion on their local environment.
Family day care has a special role
in child care. It takes place in a private home, with
a carer who does not necessarily have any training for
her job, but instead often has experience from her own
children and other kinds of work. In family day care
in Denmark, there are small groups of children, with
three to five children under three years. The children
will often meet the family of the carer, and they can
participate in her everyday work. The carer is part
of her local environment. She lives where she works,
and works where she lives. Many have lived for a long
time in the same area, maybe they have their family
here as well, and so they can be of great support for
young families who have moved to the area recently.
All this makes each family day care home unique, with
special conditions and environments for the children.
The big question is, though, how do
the children in family day care react to the care, what
do they like, and what is important to them? How can
we make it possible for children as young as that to
tell about their experiences and what they see as important?
Can they explain if their language is only fragmentized?
In England, researchers at Thomas Coram Research Unit
at London University have found a method, "The
Mosaic Approach", to give 3 - 4 year old
children at day-care centres a chance to express how
they like their out-door environment (Clark & Moss
2001; 2005). To make this possible, the researchers
used a whole catalogue of various methods, including
interviews, observations, the children's drawings and
photos, taken by the children. In this way, the children
get a chance to express what they think. The use of
disposable cameras has shown to be very successful,
and through them, the researchers obtained information,
they would not have been able to get otherwise.
In our research project, I wanted to include not only
the children in family day care, but also the carers.
In my research, I am influenced by Participatory Action
Research (Maguire 1987; Fals Borda 1991) and by participant-based
research (Forsberg & Starrin 1997). This means that
the participants themselves have an important role in
shaping the research, and in this way get a chance to
influence. Participant-based research wants to make
it possible for "normal people" to obtain
influence over the production of knowledge, in contrast
to traditional research, where a researcher observes
a group of people. The design of the research is formed
through a dialogue between the researcher and the participants,
who carry out the collection of material which the researcher
analyses and studies. This model I have used earlier
with good result (Karlsson 2002).
At a first meeting with the 16 carers
who had volunteered to participate in the study, I asked
them to keep a logbook of one child in their care, to
document what environments and people the child met
during one week. At the same time, the child got a disposable
camera, to take photos of what it chose. The carers
were instructed to leave the decisions as to what to
photograph to the child. When the photos were developed,
the carer should ask the child to talk about them. In
order to obtain more information, the carer could choose
to supplement with for instance 15 minutes observations
of the child, to let the child draw and explain about
something that interested it or to interview the child.
Eight girls and eight boys were part of the study, and
the children were aged between 2 years, 4months and
2 years 10 months. Each carer decided herself which
child should become the researching child, and the choice
was dependent on her knowledge of the children's ability
to be part of this. Among other things the individual
child's verbal development, openness and time of care
were important factors.
The carers started the work with great enthusiasm, and
even though they only had a few weeks to carry it through,
they did so with capability and high ambitions. Their
collected data is so extensive and interesting, that
it should be used as a handbook in day care pedagogic.
Here I can only describe the work of the children. All
names have been changed.
The logbooks show that during a week the children visit
many different surroundings. The logbooks give a lovely,
positive picture of family day care as a place where
children have a rich and interesting life. - But how
do the children themselves see it? It was most exciting
to get the photos of the children. How had they managed?
And would they be able to remember what and why they
had chosen their motive? How aware had they been of
what they had photographed?
The answer is - children vary!
A few children had not been very interested in the camera,
and did not want to take photos. In these cases, the
carer has tried to take photos of what the child was
engaged in doing. Other children have taken a great
number of photos of the same motive, maybe because they
enjoyed mechanically pushing the bottom, or because
they were especially interested of a certain motive.
But most of the children photographed with great seriousness,
and taken photos of things they found interesting.
"Where is George?"
Photo by Greta 2 years 4 months
The explanations of the children of
the photos vary a great deal, not least depending on
the verbal capability of the child. Some children have
explained their choice of motive with a single word;
others give long explanations and show to be very well
aware of why they took the photo.
It is obvious that the children have
had various focuses when photographing. Partly dependent
on, where they have been with their carer, but also
depending on the interests and personalities of each
child. For instance, Nick has taken a photo of his cucumber
sandwich, and Ian has photographed: "flowers, that
we picked. My mum has them in our house. They were on
the table. My mum put water in the vase, so that they
can drink some water."
Some motives can be found with several children, in
various extends:
There are many photos of the other children in care,
with many close-ups of one specific child. Some of these
close-ups are of high quality, with the photographed
child smiling lovingly into the camera. Without doubt,
there are warm feelings between the children. Fred explains:
"This is my darling Frieda, and my friend!"
Both Emma and Greta have taken pictures of their best
friend, only the friend had left before they managed
to press the button.
Most children have also taken a picture of their carer,
and here we really can see how tall adults are. If the
child photographed an adult standing up, her face is
seen as very small and far away. Al has taken a close-up
of Ann, which only shows her hips and stomach. Some
of the children have also taken photos of the carer's
husband, reading or playing with the children. Another
popular motive is the pets in the family day care, dogs,
rabbits, hens or others.
The close local environment is often pictured. Besides
the other children, we often can see various toys, but
even interesting close-ups. For instance, Greta has
taken several photos of her flower bed, where she has
sown radishes. And there are a number of photos of earthworms,
snails, lady-birds and other interesting objects that
the children have studied with great interest.
"What's that?
Yes, that's a puddle, I have taken a photo of that.
We're looking at the horses, they have dunged!"
Photo: Bea 2 years 9 months
There are a good number of photos
of natural scenes from the outings to the forest. Most
things can be played with. Diane has photographed a
log of wood. "Here we jump down and climb up".
Two themes appear often: sticks and puddles of water.
Sticks can be played with, or used when walking, or
as pistols, or for fishing, or thrown into the water.
And puddles can be jumped into, or splashed, or used
as mirror. Bea has taken a lovely photo of the children,
reflected in a puddle, while they watch horses that
have dunged.
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That Bornholm is an island becomes
evident when looking at all the photos of the sea, of
boats of various sizes, of harbours and beaches. That
also is one of the most common subjects in the drawings
of the children. Many children know someone who is a
sailor, so the drawings can be of "The ferry of
my uncle" or "Peter's boat". The daily
walks often go to the harbour, where the children can
study what happens there. When Kate and the other children
go down to look at the big ferry that has got a big
dent, it shows both in her photos and her drawings.
And Olivia becomes an interested witness of some rescue-workers,
practising in the harbour; she has photographed the
practise as a good reporter and remembers afterwards
exactly what happens on the photos.
Another popular theme is roadwork, construction sites
and big, heavy machines. Evidently, the carers allow
time for the children to watch what goes on. Several
children show talent for catching the spur of the moment.
Unfortunately, it also happens that the car has passed,
when the child gets to pressing the button of the camera.
But we have photos of a tractor spreading dung, of a
truck at work and others.
"The swing! I
watch the birds, the trees, those (points at the masts)
and the clouds. The sun is there (points at a cloud)
It's coming! I close my eyes when it comes." Photo:
Julie 2 years 6 months
In some photos the children have wanted
to show what they see at special occasions. For instance
Charlie has taken a photo of the supermarket from the
inside of a shopping trolley, Julie has the view from
the swing in high speed, and Bea shows the view from
the bike. Several children have tried to photograph
the inside of the pram where they have their nap.
Most remarkable, though, is the perspective. It becomes
so evident how small the children are, and how different
everything looks from their perspective. The wheels
of a bicycle, cars and tractors, everything look enormous,
a pram seen by the child walking next to it look so
different from what we adults are used to. And most
of what children see when walking in a town is situated
high up in the air, as the button you press when you
want to cross the street or the mailbox.
Discussion
The researchers at Thomas Coram Research Institute in
London found that several methods are needed, in order
to give young children a chance to express what they
think of their local environment. In this project, several
of their suggestions have been used, supplemented with
the logbooks, kept by the carers.
Is there a risk of bias, of too idyllic descriptions,
when the carers themselves do the research, instead
of an outside researcher, doing her objective observations?
Of-course, there is a risk. But the family day carers
of Bornholm already had learned how to make observations,
and besides it was strongly underlined how important
it is to simply write down what is said and what happens,
without explanations or interpretations. Another bias
might be that it probably is the most confident carers
who volunteer to become part of a project like this.
So the project cannot be said to be representative for
all family day care, but we do get an understanding
of how it can be, when it is good.
The logbooks and the photos supplement each other. Often,
we can read in the logbook about the situation that
the child has photographed. Not always, though. For
instance, many children have not taken any pictures
from the play-group. This may because they are too busy
playing there, so that they haven't time to think of
taking photos, or maybe the carer has not brought the
camera, or maybe the child did not think the playgroup
interesting enough to photograph.
The drawings, the observations and the interviews each
give their own aspect of how the children view their
local environment. The photos show how interested the
children are in small, close objects, the drawings and
observations show how children need to use their bodies
in rough play, to run fast, but also time to become
absorbed in studies of various phenomenons.
Very young children have views on their local environment,
and that they can express these views, given sufficient
tools, that is shown in this study. It was especially
surprising how confident most of them were when taking
photos. Even those children who do not have very well
developed language skills have been able to explain
what they see as important, through their photos and
drawings, and with the help of the observations and
logbooks of the carers.
Although the days of April when the study was made,
were chilly and rainy, there were many interesting events
for the children. Play with other children in accepting
surroundings, encounters with other children and carers,
and with many different people who were doing their
job but still took time to stop and chat with the children.
All the children met nature and animals, and they could
participate in everyday-work such as gardening and cooking.
Children are individuals, and the
focus of each child varies. There is not any clear difference
between the focus of boys and girls. For instance, many
girls show great interest in excavators and other big
machines, and some of the boys have mostly photographed
other children, which, according to traditional thinking,
is not what could be expected.
"The
mailbox. I's red." Photo: Diana 2 years 9 months
It
is interesting to note, that most of the photos of other
children are of those from the small group of the carer,
besides from views from the playgroup. But then the
researching child often has not been able to name the
other children. This indicates how important the everyday-group
is for the children, and how close those children become.
Most children have a special friend, who often has been
photographed several times. We can really talk about
close friendship between the children. This friendship
is important to respect, not least when a child is moved
on to a child-care centre. Are the close friends allowed
to continue seeing each other?
To evaluate the project, I asked the carers to write
down how they had experienced being part of this study.
Many had regrets because they had worked under time-pressure,
and many said this had been really time-consuming. But
all carers also said that it had been exciting and challenging
to be part of this. Many have seen new sides of the
researching child or of the whole group. To view the
world from the perspective of the child, to understand
the importance of the small things, has been important
knowledge that many want to bring on into their future
work. Probably, the most striking experience for many
is the competence and awareness of the children, which
is much higher than the carers who meet them every day
had realised before.
It is important to realise this, that young children
are competent and very well aware of what happens around
them. We all ought to remember to give the child time
to become absorbed in what it finds interesting, and
that even very young children have individual interests.
This ought to be more important than always following
our own plans.
Litterature
Clark, Alison & Moss, Peter (2001): Listening to
young children: The Mosaic Approach. London: National
Children's Bureau
Clark,
Alison & Moss, Peter (2005): Spaces to Play. More
Listening to young children using the Mosaic Approach.
London: National Children's Bureau
Fals-Borda,
Orlando (1991): Some Basic Ingrediens. I Fals-Borda,
Orlando & Rahman, Muhammed Anisur (eds): Breaking
the Monopoly with Partcipatory Action Research. New
York: The Apex Press
Forsberg,
Erik & Starrin, Bengt (red)(1997): Frigærande
kraft. Empowerment som model I skola, omsorg och arbetsliv.
Stockholm: Gothia
Karlsson,
Malene (2002): Perspektiv på familjedaghem. Studies
in Educational Sciences 51. Stockholm: HLS Förlag
Maguire,
Patricia (1987): Doing Participatory Research: a feminist
approach. The Center for International Education. School
of Education. University of Massachusetts
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