Table Of ContentTaming Childhood?
A Critical Perspective
on Policy, Practice
and Parenting
Rob Creasy
Fiona Corby
Taming Childhood?
Rob Creasy · Fiona Corby
Taming Childhood?
A Critical Perspective on Policy,
Practice and Parenting
Rob Creasy Fiona Corby
School of Psychological and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences, Humanities
York St John University and Law
York, UK Teesside University
Middlesbrough, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-11841-9 ISBN 978-3-030-11842-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11842-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018968337
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
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To all the tame children who should be climbing trees, riding bikes, and
taking risks. And to our own children, Leanne, Tom & Eddie who have
been out there in the world, untamed having adventures. Yes, it was scary at
times.
Preface
Not long after The Taming of Education had been completed, we were
walking through Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire when a youngster
of about 5 came towards us on a bike. What stood out was although
this was a path in a park, the young cyclist was wearing a helmet, knee
pads, and gloves, and mum was close behind constantly shouting
instructions. Here was a child who wasn’t being given any space. We
had already had numerous discussions about children and parenting
and how the notion of taming fit as a way of understanding just what
is happening with regard to children’s lives and this cyclist was the cata-
lyst. Children are being increasingly tamed.
We seem to have written Taming Childhood at a pertinent time. Other
commentators are drawing attention to the ways in which children are being
subject to what we call taming. This is epitomised by the pejorative term,
snowflake. After childhood has been tamed, young people are then subject to
criticism for not being able to cope with what we have never allowed them to
be exposed to. This book explores how this situation has come to be.
York, UK Rob Creasy
Middlesbrough, UK Fiona Corby
vii
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Structure of the Book 6
References 10
2 The Context of Childhood 13
2.1 Introduction 14
2.2 The Individual Child: Neoliberalism to New Labour 15
2.3 Children as Beings or Becomings 17
2.4 Well-Being and Well-Becoming 21
2.5 Vulnerability 25
2.6 Resilience 27
References 30
3 Introducing Tameness 35
3.1 Introduction 36
3.2 Snowflakes 38
3.3 Conceptualising Issues as Wicked or Tame 41
ix
x Contents
3.4 From Paradigms to Evidence-Based Practice 44
3.5 The 10 Properties of Wicked Problems 47
3.6 Wickedity as a Continuum 49
3.7 Conclusion: The Possibility of Childhood 51
References 53
4 Home and Family 57
4.1 Introduction 58
4.2 Parents and the Place of Children 60
4.3 Helicopter Parents 64
4.4 Parental Surveillance 68
4.5 Not Going Out 69
4.6 Children in a Changing Landscape 71
4.7 Conclusion 76
References 76
5 Taming in the Early Years 83
5.1 Introduction 84
5.2 The Growing Role of the State 86
5.3 Towards Education 90
5.4 Readiness for School, or to Work? 92
5.5 Protecting the Early Years 94
5.6 Conclusion 96
References 98
6 Tameness at School 103
6.1 Introduction 104
6.2 School Spaces 105
6.3 Starting School, Meeting Targets, Becoming Data 108
6.4 Metrics and the Datafication of Children 110
6.5 Making School Uniform 114
6.6 Conclusion: The Purpose of School 118
References 120
Contents xi
7 Conclusion 125
7.1 Introduction 126
7.2 What’s Best for Children? 129
7.3 Resisting Tameness 132
References 136
References 137
Index 157
1
Introduction
Abstract In recent decades, UK society has seen a number of changes
which increase pressure on children. This has contributed to the
reported deterioration in the mental health of children alongside an
increasing level of unhappiness. It appears as though children and
young people lack resilience. Taming Childhood presents an argument
regarding how social changes are contributing to children experiencing
life in ways that are increasingly restricted and impoverished, what we
refer to as tame. We argue that this is not a positive development, it is a
childhood which restricts what children can do, undermining the devel-
opment of resilience and undermining well-being.
Keywords Mental health · Unhappiness · Resilience · Childhood
1.1 Introduction
This book considers a range of factors which may be seen as influencing
the context of childhood within the UK, putting forward the argument
that childhood has changed in ways which are not in the best interests
© The Author(s) 2019 1
R. Creasy and F. Corby, Taming Childhood?,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11842-6_1
