The Social Study of Childhood

Because ‘grown-ups don’t always get it right’: Allyship with children in research – from research question to authorship

“…Their engagement itself is also a reflection of the contemporary constructions of childhood, adult authority and voice. While children in the contemporary and western world are generally regarded as agentic beings in their own right (Bradbury-Jones and Taylor 2015; Corsaro 2011; Godfrey and Grayman 2014;McNamee 2016;Neale and Flowerdew 2007;Shute and Slee 2015), their lives are still managed by adults in educational, familial and social settings.…”

An Analysis of Child and Youth Advocacy in 21st Century Contemporary Contexts

“…I heard how useful the CRC is to the Canadian advocates work but also looked at how the CRC might be leveraged from the international perspectives. Along with other interdisciplinary childhood scholars (Johnson, 2017;McNamee, 2016;Mitchell, 2003;Tisdall & Punch, 2012), I highlight how the CRC prevents as much as promotes children's voices, agency and participation and have explored how some of these concepts are quite complex. These ideas are important because they reveal how organizational frameworks create spaces for the facilitation of young peoples' voices, agency and participation.…”

“…The participants' insights also indicate that child and youth advocacy at the provincial and territorial level draws on diverse childhood theories to develop an understanding of the role of child and youth advocates. For instance, in framing the role of advocacy through a developmental approach, the participants point to developmental psychological understandings about children based on their cognitive capacity, but also integrate understandings of children as competent meaning-makers, a conception derived from the social study of childhood (Freeman, 1998;James et al, 2002;McNamee, 2016;Mayall, 2000;Reynaert et al, 2009;Thorne, 2009;Vandenbroeck and Bouverne-De Bie, 2006 Understandings about these differences are important because they will be confusing for the public and young people in Ontario who no longer have a child and youth advocate and will have to report to an office that does not have a legal mandate that supports advocacy, a specific focus on children and youth, and do not take a rights-based approach to working with young people and the issues they present (Finlay, 2018). 14 The participants emphasized the importance of partnering with young people, taking a rightsbased approach to understanding issues, teaching self-advocacy skills and educating young people about their rights.…”

“…The language used in the CRC signals developmental ideas and an adultist framing which suggests that the younger the child, the less capable the child may be to express their viewpoints (McNamee, 2016;Mitchell, 2003;Tisdall & Punch, 2012). While many of the offices are framed by the CRC which promotes children's rights to express views in decisions that affect their lives, it also establishes borders beyond which expressing views becomes difficult since these opportunities are based on age and maturity of children.…”

“They Just Don’t Get It”: Snapshots from Siblings of Children with Life Limiting Conditions

“…This could include family surveys, or outsiders thoughts on the child; it is mainly focused on behaviour. Research with children attempts to include children in research by using child friendly methods so that their voice can be the most present in the research (McNamee, 2016). This thesis aims to do research with children and youth, as I tried to capture the participants' lived experiences as much as possible in order for them to express their emotions and tell their stories.…”