Doing Good Parenthood: Ideals and Practices of Parental Involvement

157 Pages·2016·6.646 MB·English

by  Anna Sparrman, Allan Westerling, Judith Lind, Karen Ida Dannesboe (eds.)

Palgrave Macmillan Studies
in Family and Intimate Life
Series Editors
Graham Allan
Keele University
Keele, United Kingdom
Lynn Jamieson
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
David H.J. Morgan
University of Manchester
Manchester, United Kingdom
‘ThePalgraveMacmillanStudiesinFamilyandIntimateLifeseriesisimpress-
ive and contemporary in its themes and approaches’ - Professor Deborah
Chambers,NewcastleUniversity,UK,andauthorofNewSocialTies.
The remit of the Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life
seriesistopublish majortexts, monographsandedited collectionsfocus-
ing broadly on the sociological exploration of intimate relationships and
family organization. The series covers a wide range of topics such as
partnership, marriage, parenting, domestic arrangements, kinship, demo-
graphicchange,intergenerationalties,lifecoursetransitions,step-families,
gayandlesbianrelationships,lone-parenthouseholds,andalsonon-famil-
ialintimaterelationshipssuchasfriendshipsandincludesworksbyleading
figuresin the field,in theUK andinternationally, andaimsto contribute
to continuepublishing influential andprize-winningresearch.
More information aboutthisseries at
http://www.springer.com/series/14676
AnnaSparrman(cid:129)AllanWesterling(cid:129)JudithLind(cid:129)KarenIdaDannesboe
Editors
Doing Good
Parenthood
Ideals and Practices of Parental Involvement
Editors
AnnaSparrman AllanWesterling
DepartmentofThematicStudies–Child CenterforChildhood,Youth&
Studies FamilyResearch,DepartmentofPeople&
LinköpingUniversity Technology
Linköping,Sweden RoskildeUniversity
Roskilde,Denmark
JudithLind KarenIdaDannesboe
DepartmentofThematicStudies–Child DepartmentofEducationalAnthropology
Studies SchoolofEducation
LinköpingUniversity AarhusUniversity
Linköping,Sweden Aarhus,Denmark
PalgraveMacmillanStudiesinFamilyandIntimateLife
ISBN978-3-319-46773-3 ISBN978-3-319-46774-0(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-46774-0
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016960731
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2016
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A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The idea for this book on parenthood was first born in 2013 during a
meeting of the Nordic Network of Child Researchers held at Linköping
University,Sweden.ResearchersfromSweden,DenmarkandNorwaymet
to discuss the current state and future direction of Nordic academic
researchaboutchildrenandchildhood.Fromthislargerbodyofresearch-
ers, a smaller group from Denmark and Sweden interested in family,
parenthoodandthe welfarestatecrystallised.
The members of the group soon discovered that, despite our different
research topics, we shared an interest in the normative aspects of parent-
hood.Rightthere,inLinköping,wedecidedtoplanajointpublicationto
bring together knowledge about good parenthood. Simultaneously, we
decided to hold a session at the Conference of the European Society of
FamilyRelations inMadridin2014.Thesessionwasagreatsuccess, and
wewouldliketothankEstherDermottforhelpfulfeedbackonourpapers
and the rest of the session participants for contributing to a good and
constructive discussion.Asweidentified sharedthemes, theoreticalinter-
ests, empirical sites and analytical perspectives, an intricate complexity of
parenthood took shape. The common denominator behind these shared
elements seemed to be heterogeneous norms of parenthood in specific
settings and situations. Slowly, we developed the concept of doing good
parenthood that is the focus of this book. Texts, abstracts, titles and ideas
werecirculatedbetweenauthorsandeditorswiththeaimofmakingdoing
good parenthood central to the analyses. As a result, the book presents a
verybroadandcomplexsetofpracticesofparenthood.Thenormativityof
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
parenthoodpresentedinthetenchaptershighlightatleasttenversionsof
whatgood parenthoodcan mean.
We would like to thank all the people – children, parents, teachers,
socialworkers–whohavebeeninvolvedinthedifferentresearchprojects.
Withoutyou,ourideasandthoughtswouldnothavebeenchallengedand
this contribution to knowledge about parenthood would not have been
developed. We would also like to extend our warmest thanks to all the
contributingauthorsfortheirpatience,hardworkandfaithinthisproject.
Theeditorshavemetandworkedtogetheronseveraloccasions.Welooked
for a venue located an equal distance from Roskilde, Copenhagen and
Linköping in order to save travel time. Professor Lars Plantin of Malmö
Universitykindlyofferedhishelp,byallowingustomeetfacetofaceinhis
departmentofSocialWork.Thishasbeeninvaluableinassistingustofinish
thebook!ThefriendshipandsupportofourNordiccolleagueshavebeen
important for the completion of this book, as has Liz Sourbut’s, Nancy
Aaen’sandNicholasWrigley’slinguisticediting.
Our most sincere gratitude goes to Professor Esther Dermott. Firstly,
for being the commentator on our papers at the Madrid conference in
2014. Secondly, and more importantly, we want to express our apprecia-
tionforyouforhavingtakenonthegreattaskofcommentingonthebook
in the last chapter. In this way, the analysis extends beyond the Swedish
and Danish agenda and situates the doing of good parenthood within a
widerinternational context.Thankyou!
We are very pleased that Palgrave Macmillan decided to publish this
bookintheirStudiesinFamiliesandIntimateLifeseriesaswethinkthatit
hasthepotentialtoinspirefurtherthinkingaboutbothgoodparenthood
andgood childhood,andhowthese conceptsrelate toone another.
The publication of this book has been made possible by individual
research grants and great support from the academic departments of the
four editors.
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction:Doing Good Parenthood 1
JudithLind, Allan Westerling,AnnaSparrmanand
KarenIda Dannesboe
2 Time forGood Parenthood:A Studyof Intercountry
Adoption Assessment 17
CeciliaLindgren
3 NoOneofImportance:LesbianMothers’Constructionsof
Permanently AnonymousSperm Donors 29
AnnaMalmquist,AnnaPolskiandKarinZetterqvistNelson
4 Parenting onthe Edge:Doing Good Parenthoodin Child
Protection Services Interventions 41
PernilleJuhl
5 AmbitiousParents asIdealor Disorder: DoingGood
Parenthood inDenmark and Singapore 53
DilBach
6 AmbiguousInvolvement:Children’sConstructionofGood
Parenthood 65
KarenIda Dannesboe
vii
viii CONTENTS
7 LimitedButCommittedParents:PrimarySchoolTeachers
Negotiating Good Parenthoodin a DisadvantagedArea 77
DisaBergnehr
8 Doing Good ParenthoodThrough OnlineParental
Involvement inDanish Schools 89
MariaØrskov Akselvoll
9 Teenagers, AlcoholandSex: Doing Good Parenthoodon
an On-lineDiscussionBoard 101
JudithLind
10 The Ontological Choreography of(Good) Parenthood 113
AnnaSparrman,David Cardell, Anne-LiLindgren
andTobiasSamuelsson
11 Parenthood andWe-nessin EverydayLife: Parenting
Together Apart 127
Allan Westerling
12 Doing Good Parenthood:Reflexivity, Practices, and
Relationships 137
EstherDermott
Index 149
C
ONTRIBUTORS
Maria Ørskov Akselvoll Center for Childhood, Youth & Family
Research, Department of People & Technology, Roskilde University,
Roskilde, Denmark
Dil Bach Department of Educational Anthropology, School of
Education, AarhusUniversity,Aarhus, Denmark
Disa Bergnehr School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University,
Jönköping, Sweden
David Cardell Department of Sociology, Örebro University, Örebro,
Sweden
KarenIdaDannesboe DepartmentofEducationalAnthropology,School
of Education, AarhusUniversity,Aarhus,Denmark
Esther Dermott School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies,
University of Bristol,Bristol,UK
Pernille Juhl Center for Childhood, Youth & Family Research,
Department of People & Technology, Roskilde University, Roskilde,
Denmark
JudithLind DepartmentofThematicStudies–ChildStudies,Linköping
University,Linköping, Sweden
Anne-Li Lindgren Department of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm
University,Stockholm, Sweden
ix