Playground Panopticism

She's From a `Good Family'

“…The ideas and concerns in mothers' social discourse as well as in the promotional materials noted earlier provide insight into the ways individual performances of mothering unfold in the private school settings in this research. In her article on mothers in a suburban playground, Holly Blackford (2004) discusses mothering as a product of social negotiation between adults as well as between adults and children. She writes that 'maternal performances in the public park encode systems by which middle-class mothers govern themselves and one another; through this governance, they also enact and perpetuate governance of children' (Blackford, 2004: 244).…”

“…Joanne's surveillance and assessment of Margaret's mothering practices noted in the preceding section is one example among many at West Hill Academy. As Blackford (2004) argues, this type of surveillance suits mothering ideology rather well for it successfully diverts attention away from what actual mothers are doing as well as away from the circumstances in which they find themselves. Importantly, as in Joanne's case, it enlists women in the surveillance of their children's lives and of other mothers' lives with the intent of enforcing an ideal that is impractical and ultimately unattainable; at some level, this practice inevitably sets mothers, and children, up to fail.…”

“…While this assertion may not be new or surprising, research on motherhood has not acknowledged the relationship between mothers and children fully, preferring to assign children a symbolic rather than actual place in understanding motherhood issues. Likewise, in childhood studies, an exploration of the ways in which the nature of motherhood and the nature of childhood are transforming one another is only beginning to be addressed (Blackford, 2004). As I explore in this article, a 'tightening of the net of social control around children and childhood' impacts in similar ways upon women's lives and motherhood as well (see James and James, 2001).…”