Between domination and „trivialized partnership”. A conception of a child and upbringing in an egalitarian family Cover Image

Między dominacją a „zbanalizowanym partnerstwem”. Koncepcja dziecka i wychowania w rodzinie egalitarnej
Between domination and „trivialized partnership”. A conception of a child and upbringing in an egalitarian family

Author(s): Joanna Ostrouch-Kamińska
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Polskie Towarzystwo Pedagogiczne
Keywords: parenthood; egalitarian upbringing; egalitarian family; subjectivity of a child

Summary/Abstract: In contemporary social sciences, including educational ones, the situation of children in working parents’ families, especially in families from the so-called Polish middle class, is presented in terms of a number of risks in the children’s development. Parents’ individualism, egocentrism, focus on self-realization, and development of their professional careers on the one hand, and on the other hand – „possession” of children as an inherent „attribute” of contemporary success are the frame of most narratives about childhood and a child’s place in the contemporary family. The aim of this article is to look at the situation of a child in a dual-career family in terms of changes in the child’s situation/ position and childhood as well as development opportunities that this change may create. The purpose of this article is to complete the discourse of „childhood crisis” of reflections from the discourse of „childhood transformation”; of reflections based on the results of research on constructing and implementing egalitarian reality and equality in a dual- career family, including egalitarian relations with children; of reflections, in which a concept of a child as a partner, a subject, a person with his/her own dignity and respect (as for example in the conception of Janusz Korczak) is significantly different from the concept of a child as an object of parental interaction, and is located between the domination of both parents and parental aspirations in education and a „trivialized partnership”, that is an escape by parents from taking a real responsibility for the education and upbringing of their children in the direction of building “friendly” relationships with them.

  • Issue Year: IX/2013
  • Issue No: 3 (22)
  • Page Range: 17-28
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish
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