Browsing by Author "Tarvainen, Tea"

Household chores are an important part of household functioning. Their significance is also examined in the perspective of household production. Domestic work upbringing, however, has been studied only marginally and no definition of the concept of domestic work upbringing was found in previous scholarly publications. However, previous scientific publications suggest that household chores have an educational dimension. This thesis fills this identified knowledge gap and examines the practices and educational principles of mothers' domestic work upbringing. Additionally, it explores the goals that mothers aim to achieve through the domestic work upbringing they provide. The data for this qualitative study was collected through an online questionnaire. The online questionnaire was open on a Facebook group ‘ÄiTyLIt’ for two weeks in March 2023. The online questionnaire for parents of children under 12 years of age consisted primarily of open-ended questions. The survey data includes 214 mothers' responses, which I have analyzed by means of theoretical content analysis. Atlas.ti analysis software was used to assist the analysis. The mothers' practices and educational principles of domestic work upbringing were di-verse. They can be categorized as child-centered, functional, verbal, time-based and reward-based practices and principles. In addition, some mothers reported using a chore list or a reward chart as a tool for domestic work upbringing. Many mothers reported that they consider the age and skill level of the child, as well as the child's own desire, enthusiasm or personality when raising a child to do household chores. Plenty of the mothers in this study did housework together with their children. This was often based on routine and a desire for an equal division of labor. Furthermore, many mothers praised, encouraged and thanked their children for doing household chores. The aims of domestic work upbringing were mainly focused on the child's own life skills and the shared household. Mothers especially wanted to teach children skills of independence, responsibility, self-help and doing one’s own share. Moreover, mothers wanted to communicate to their children that household chores are part of everyday life and for everyone in the household. In conclusion, it can be proposed that through domestic work upbringing mothers want to contribute to the well-being of both the child and the household, which may also have a positive impact on societal action as a whole.