“I don’t think there’s any needs at the moment. And if there were, maybe mommy could help.” : Children’s conceptions of care and how they understand the division of care in families

Abstract

It is determined in several studies that the responsibility of care labour in families is unequally allocated between men and women. Care in families consists of all the practices done to maintain the family members lives the best as possible. Multiple dimensions of competencies are required when carrying out care. Previous studies concerning care in families focus on the distribution of care actions between men and women, and on how care labour is defined in families. This study aims to find out how young children conceptualize care in families and how they understand the division of care. This study reports 17 interviews of children 6 to 9 years old. The interviews were semi-structured and included questions on how the children conceptualize care, how they were socialized to care and their experiences of being care receivers. This study follows qualitative research paradigm and the method used to analyse the data was abductive thematic analysis. The results show that children conceptualize care as a phenomenon occurring in relationships between people. Additionally, care is perceived as practices that transmit care. The results show that the traditional division of care still exists in families in Finland, but also that in multiple cases the care labour is divided between parents equally. Difference is shown in how mothers and fathers provide care for their children. Mother’s care is extensive, and it includes all the aspects of how the children conceptualize care in families. Father’s care is narrower and it focuses on spending time together with the children.