Ownership Versus Partnership Parenting: Parenting Styles Within the Homeschooling Movement

Scholars of the family agree on four main parenting styles, varying along two axes: responsiveness and control. Parental involvement and child autonomy fall under the control axis and are assumed to have an inverse relationship; where parental involvement is high, child autonomy is assumed to be low, and vice versa. Drawing on 22 in-depth interviews and participant observation at five homeschooling conferences, we examine the dominant parenting philosophies and practices of conservative Christian homeschoolers (which we call “ownership parenting”) and secular unschoolers (which we call “partnership parenting”). We demonstrate that the inverse relationship between parental involvement and child autonomy is not present in partnership parenting, which is marked by both high parental involvement and high child autonomy. Unschooling thus represents an empirical case against the theoretical conflation of parental involvement and child autonomy; a new expanded typology is thus posited that divides the control axis into two distinct axes.

599 Exploring Ways to Optimize Parental Involvement in Adolescent Sleep Interventions

Introduction Sleep is critical to the health and functioning of adolescents, but most teens do not obtain the recommended amount of sleep each night. Some sleep interventions have been efficacious in promoting sleep among adolescents, though others have had a more limited impact. One potential strategy for improving the efficacy of adolescent sleep promotion programs is to optimize the role of parents in supporting their child’s sleep. Recent findings on parental involvement in adolescent sleep suggest that monitoring can improve sleep duration but may be challenged by disagreements about sleep between parents and adolescents. Thus, it is crucial to understand how to involve parents in adolescent sleep promotion while supporting adolescent autonomy. Here, we report qualitative data on strategies for involving parents in adolescent sleep promotion in a way that is acceptable and effective. This data was collected specifically to inform the development of a sleep promotion program for adolescents. Methods We conducted 9 focus groups (3 each for youth, parents of adolescents, and healthcare providers treating adolescents). Transcripts of focus group proceedings were coded and thematically analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches, focusing on parents’ current role in their child’s sleep and the proposed role of parents in an adolescent sleep program. Results Some parents report being involved in their child’s sleep habits by setting bedtimes and supervising a consistent sleep routine. Adolescents prefer parental support that encourages child autonomy for their own sleep routine. To maintain healthy sleep habits, parents report that physicians or other trusted adults may play a key role in facilitating the negotiation of sleep habits that addresses the priorities of both parents and adolescents. Conclusion Our findings support adolescent preference for autonomy in their health behaviors consistent with their developing independence during this development period. Future work should focus on improved understanding of how adolescents and parents can negotiate adolescent autonomy and should examine the efficacy of a sleep promotion program based on varying levels of parental involvement. Support (if any):

Mealtime Environment and Control of Food Intake in Healthy Children and in Children with Gastrointestinal Diseases

Parental feeding practices and mealtime routine significantly influence a child’s eating behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the mealtime environment in healthy children and children with gastrointestinal diseases. We conducted a cross-sectional case–control study among 787 healthy, typically developing children and 141 children with gastrointestinal diseases, aged two to seven years. Parents were asked to provide data on demographics and describe their mealtime environment by answering to 24 closed-ended questions. It was found that the majority of the children had the same number of meals every day and at the same hour. Parents of both groups exerted considerable control on the child’s food intake by deciding both when and what their child eats. Almost one third of the parents also decided how much their child eats. The two groups differed significantly in nine of the 24 questions. The study showed that both groups provided structured and consistent mealtime environments. However, a significant proportion of children did not control how much they eat which might impede their ability to self-regulate eating. The presence of a gastrointestinal disease was found to be associated with reduced child autonomy, hampered hunger cues and frequent use of distractions during meals.

"Pedagogy of Listening" vs. "Pedagogy of Listening to Educators": Ethnographic Research on Child Autonomy in Kindergartens in Montenegro

The paper discusses the phenomenon of child autonomy from the perspective of educators' personal epistemologies and power relations in the adult-child interaction in the practices of institutional education in Montenegro. The construct of child autonomy is approached from the standpoint of critical-constructivist theory and the self- -determination theory, as a socio-cultural product shaped by ethnopedagogies and personal epistemologies of educators. The main goal of the ethnographic study conducted in three preschool educational institutions in Montenegro was to explore the epistemological theories of educators through the analysis of institutional educational practices, given that "the ways of thinking about childhood fuse with institutionalized practices" (Prout & James, 2005, p. 22). We conclude about the existence of an objectivist epistemological theory of educators and the dominance of normative power relations in educator-child interactions, and discuss a special type of epistemological "over-power". The comparability with the results of similar research in the region is stated, and it points to a possible explanatory connection between collectivist culture and the controlling motivational style and authoritarianism in education.

Assessing Children’s Capacity

This article seeks to reconceptualise approaches to assessing children’s capacity, particularly in light of Article 5 of the crc, which enshrines the principle of the evolving capacities of the child. Professionals regularly assess children’s capacity, for example when doctors treat children, or when lawyers represent child clients. They usually do this assessment intuitively however, as there is little guidance on how assessment should work in practice. Medical law in England and Wales serves as a case study to examine law and practice as well as challenges in the area. It is concluded that it may not necessarily be possible objectively to measure children’s capacity, and it may need to be done intuitively. Yet it should be done via a process which is rights-based. An approach to children’s capacity is proposed through four concepts based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Autonomy, Evidence, Support and Protection.

La inseguridad jurídica derivada de la insuficiente regulación de la gestación subrogada en España = Legal insecurity arising from the insufficient regulation of surrogacy in Spain

Resumen: La regulación legal española de la gestación subrogada, por la que cualquier acuerdo que la tenga por objeto será declarado nulo de pleno derecho, no evita que las familias españolas recurran a ella en países extranjeros donde su práctica es legal, para hacer realidad su voluntad procreativa. Los mecanismos legales que, de forma parcial y cambiante, se han ido implementando en nuestro país para, en determinadas circunstancias, permitir la inscripción del nacimiento y filiación de los niños nacidos en el extranjero a favor de sus padres intencionales, suponen una grave inseguridad jurídica y una clara incongruencia de nuestro marco legislativo. Por ello, resulta extremadamente necesario crear las instituciones adecuadas que otorguen respuesta a las nuevas necesidades planteadas y protejan los intereses personales en juego.Palabras clave: gestación por sustitución, filiación, interés superior del menor, autonomía de la voluntad, inseguridad jurídica.Abstract: The current legal situation on surrogacy in Spain, prescribing that any agreement aimed at such process shall be declared null and void, does not prevent Spanish families from going abroad to fulfil their procreation will through this technique. The partial and changing legal mechanisms that have been implemented in our country to allow, in certain circumstances, the birth registration as well as the filiation of the child born abroad through surrogacy in favour of the intended parents, leads to a serious legal uncertainty and to a clear incongruence of our legislative framework. Thus, it is extremely necessary to create the appropriate institutions that may give response to the new stated needs and protect the personal interests affected.Keywords: surrogacy, filiation, best interests of the child, autonomy of the will, legal uncertainty.

The principle of child autonomy: A rationale for the normative agenda of childhood studies

The normative aim of childhood studies is to show that children are and should be recognized as active shapers of their lifeworlds. In this article, we discuss which concept can best be used to accomplish this. Our thesis is that the agency concept ubiquitous in childhood studies only inadequately advances the field’s normative agenda. Mostly containing some hidden normativity, its meaning remains primarily descriptive. Indeed, children always have some kind of agency, regardless of the conditions they live in. They may exercise agency while still being manipulated or otherwise rendered incapable of acting as autonomous human beings. Against this backdrop, we first delineate the deficiencies of the notion of child agency and try to show why it should be replaced by that of autonomy in order to preserve and make explicit its hidden normative impetus. Second, we seek to clarify which understanding of autonomy is able to fulfill our aspirations. We oppose individualistic notions of autonomy and, by the same token, draw on criticism of the insufficient attention often paid to structural social factors. Eventually, we aim to develop a social concept of child autonomy that takes into account the relationality of human existence and replaces the asymmetrical relationship between children and adults with an equal appreciation of differences.

Navigating the policy directive of child autonomy in universal pre-kindergarten practice

Drawing on case-study data, this inquiry explores the lived experiences of four universal pre-kindergarten teachers to address the question: How do practitioners narratively interpret a local school district policy directive of child autonomy, use their professional capacities to reconstruct the directive to address diverse students’ needs, and then implement or instruct their reconfigurations of autonomy in context-specific ways? By examining the tensions between policy and locally embodied practice, teachers’ voices shed light on professional struggles within large universal pre-kindergarten programs, and offer possibilities for reconceptualizing and enacting policy directives at the community level.