Browsing by Subject "parenthood"
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(2014)The target phenomenon of the study is the experiences of adoptive parenting and family life by those parents who has a child adopted from South Africa. The object of interest is the adoptive parenthood and the experience of the adoptive family's everyday life. In Finland the interest about international adoption is great. As a contact country, South Africa has steadily raised interest. My goal in this study together with the wide theory of adoptions and adoptive parents' personal experiences is to serve those parents who are considering participate to international adoption process and especially thinking to adopt a child from South Africa. The frame of reference of this research is qualitative and theory guiding. The theoretical background examines the nature of the adoption process, the various stages of the process, as well as jurisprudence and ethics through the process as part of the protection of children. The approach in this study is a narrative. I gathered the research data by writing quest for the adoptive parents. The data consists the total of the six subjective reports written by six adoptive parents whose children where born in South Africa. The study revealed how the adoption is a very strongly legal process which is closely linked to the authorities' actions. During the process of adoption, the adoptive applicants are required to make a number of informed choices. During this process related to every party – both children and parents – there are always present the changes, losses, and hopes. While examining and comparing the data it became clear how an adoptive parenting is pretty much the same as a biological parenthood. Despite this, the adoptive parenting is always at the same a time different and special. The challenges of the spectrum appears to be mostly: adoptive children with special needs and responding to those special needs, attachment relationship and sometimes in different ways racist encounters.
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(2006)Aims. Research is linked with National basis on early childhood education curriculum (2003) published by National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (Stakes). In the basis term partnership is used to describe cooperation between parents and day-care staff. Research ́s aim was to find out how parents and kindergarten teachers define this new concept and their role in the partnership. Aim was also to survey how they feel partnership is realized in care and development agreement discussions between staff and parents of under 6-year old children. Furthermore it was researched what elements on the basis of their experiences do affect partnership and what things they feel should be developed to get partnership realized better. Research was expected to raise up useful information to be used in planning, developing and realizing partnership in kindergartens. Methods. Research material was collected by theme interviews in November - December 2004. Interviews were completed in 12 kindergartens located in one social center area of Helsinki. Kindergartens were chosen randomly. One teacher from each kindergarten was interviewed and in 10 kindergartens of 12 one mother of under 6-year old child was interviewed. Interviews were based on thinking partnership in general and in thinking it with reflection on one specific care and development agreement discussion. Parents reflected partnership on their latest discussion and teachers chose one discussion of the discussions held in autumn 2004. Material was transcribed and analysed by Gillham ́s 11-point directions to content analysis. Results and conclusions. Definitions of partnership and experiences of it varied a lot. Partnership was felt very personally and many humane elements, like familiarity and characteristics of partners, were connected to partnership. Common elements in definitions of partnership were for example trust, respect and communication between partners. The care and development agreement discussion seemed to be an important situation in developing partnership. At the same time, it was also seen as a situation that had a lot to be developed. Interviewees felt that neither the care and development agreement discussion nor the form used in it, took enough account on child’s individuality and personality. Other developmental tasks mentioned were linked more on developing already existing forms of partnership activity in day-care settings. Those were for example developing the daily discussions between parents and day-care staff members. Wishes for developing new forms of partnership activity were mentioned only seldom.
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(2020)Based on previous studies, decision making concerning parental leave is affected by both economic issues and preconditions relating to labor market structures and gendered practices, but also by people’s views about what the appropriate age range for children to be cared for at home by a parent is and which parent is seen as primarily responsible for this care. The discussion surrounding this topic also entails the notion of what is considered “right”, i.e. what is regarded as good parenting or a good childhood. This thesis will examine the way good parenting is defined in argumentations for childcare choices and what kind of subject-positions are formed for parents in the discourse of good parenting. My research data consists of interviews in which four heterosexual couples (mother and father) talk about their own childcare solutions and, from their own perspective and generally, about taking parental leave from work. I use a discursive approach in analyzing the data. Instead of a coherent idea of good parenting, I found many discourses of good parenting, which “activated” in different situations and in which parents sometimes positioned themselves differently based on their sex. The discussion surrounding parenting was also defined by the hectic quality of working life and, among other things, wage structures and pay gaps. Choices were made in negotiating with multiple conflicting discourses and therefore the thesis questioned the issue of the families’ “freedom of choice”. Following the spirit of neoliberalism, the family was conceived as an enterprise that needs to assess risks and maximize profit. In this thesis the relationship between work and parenting was examined from the point of view of parents that represent the heteronormative nuclear family, but in future research the scope should be broadened to involve diverse families.
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(2013)Aims. The purpose of this study is to describe how entrepreneurial women with children experience parenting. The theoretical background is based on the parenting role map (Helminen and Iso-Heiniemi, 1999), as well as the cultural aspects of motherhood (Berg, 2008). The point of view regarding entrepreneurship and parenting coordination is derived from a model (Salmi 2004c) with work and family, as the point where three fields intersect. The fields consist of working life and politics, family life and social policy, as well as the constructive processes of gender and equality politics. Experiences of parenting by self-employed women examined three broad thematic areas: parenting experience, entrepreneurship and parenting coordination, and parenting and entrepreneurship, as positioned in the careers of the interviewees. The main research questions are: 1. How is parenting experienced in the everyday life by female entrepreneurs with children? 2. What types of coping strategies and solutions have women entrepreneurs created to coordinate entrepreneurship and parenting? 3. How have parenthood and entrepreneurship positioned themselves in the life cycle of women entrepreneurs? Methods. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews involving eight 30 to 55-year-old female entrepreneurs in the Uusimaa region. In addition to the interview, the subjects produced their own life stories, where they recorded the important stages of family life and entrepreneurship. The data were analysed using content analysis. The experiences of self employed women were approached through phenomenological understanding without attempting to remove them from the general social context. Results and conclusions. The parenthood of self employed women parentage was purely gender based and expressed as maternity in their daily lives. The role of maternity appeared in their everyday care of children, household tasks, and basic needs. Closeness and presence were also strong factors. A safety net involving the grandparents was present. Also, use of time and bringing the child to the work were functions of the coordination solutions. The life stories of female entrepreneurs appeared as individual stories, with maternity as the common denominator. The use of time included exceptional creativity and resourcefulness in addressing the needs of the family. The way female entrepreneurs schedule their time in everyday life provides an interesting perspective in the discussion regarding coordination of work and family.
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