Touch Among Children at Nursery School

Cigales, Maricel; Field, Tiffany; Hossain, Ziarat; Pelaez‐Nogueras, Martha; Gewirtz, Jacob L.

doi:10.1080/0300443961260107

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our calculations of the frequency of adult-child touch suggest that the younger children were more often involved in haptic contact with educators than were the older children (see also Cigales et al 1996;Fleck and Chavajay 2009). These findings lend support to prior research showing that young children (toddlers) need bodily attention and support in many areas of their daily life in preschool, and that such support is given/provided not only when dressing, eating, but also during educational activities.…”

Section: Touch and Agesupporting

confidence: 81%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Adult-initiated touch and its functions at a Swedish preschool: controlling, affectionate, assisting and educative haptic conduct

Bergnéhr

Čekaitė

2017

International Journal of Early Years Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study examines adult-child touch and its functions in a Swedish preschool (for 1 to 5-year-old children). The data are naturalistic observations and video-recorded data of everyday preschool activities. The study describes the frequently occurring functions of educators' haptic conduct (control, affectionate, affectionate-control, assisting and educative touch), discussing them in relation to the children's age, gender and type of the preschool activity. It reveals the complexity of touch, demonstrating that physical contact is used for a variety of purposes in the educators' daily work. The educators employed touch without force, and the children did not respond with explicit and forceful resistance (such as pushing back or otherwise protesting). Adult-initiated haptic behaviour served a continuum of social purposesfrom social-relational work, such as establishing and building affectively positive, caring, social relations, to practical and educative organisational efforts to manage the complex and busy preschool life. The distribution of adult-child touch categories brings attention to the bodily aspects of the early childhood educational setting and highlights some of the ways in which the requirements of the Swedish curriculum for Preschool and its focus on educare are actualised in the educators' embodied conduct.

show abstract

Section: Touch and Agesupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Other studies have also provided support for the finding that younger children (e.g. infants and toddlers) require and are involved in more haptic contact with adults than are older preschool children (Cigales et al 1996).…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 88%

Adult-initiated touch and its functions at a Swedish preschool: controlling, affectionate, assisting and educative haptic conduct

Bergnéhr

Čekaitė

2017

International Journal of Early Years Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Several interview studies with preschool personnel in nursery contexts in the U.K. (examining the notion of 'professional love') suggest that caring emotional responsiveness and intimacy are common characteristics of the adult-child interaction in nurseries, and that child-minders respond to children's solicitations of closeness and physical contact (Page and Elfer 2013;Quan-McGimpsey, Kuczynski, and Brophy 2011), although they can simultaneously experience professional and emotional dilemmas. Children themselves can seek intimacy and touch from caregivers, as shown in observational studies of childinitiated touch in ECEC in the U.S. (Cigales et al 1996;Fleck and Chavajay 2009). Age was a significant factor in the distribution of touches, with younger children more frequently seeking bodily contact with other children and with teachers.…”

Section: Research On Interpersonal Touchmentioning

confidence: 90%

Affectionate touch and care: embodied intimacy, compassion and control in early childhood education

Čekaitė

Bergnéhr

2018

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Relational care, interpersonal intimacy and emotional attunement are crucial for children's development and wellbeing in ECEC. The present study examines how they are enacted in a Swedish preschool (for 1-5-year-olds) through recurrent adult-child physical conduct, i.e. affectionate and affectionate-controlling touch. The data consist of 24 hours of video-recorded observations of everyday activities. The study shows that educators' Affectionate-Comforting touch was used for emotion regulation as compassionate response to children's distress; Amicable touch engaged children in spontaneous affection; and, Affectionate-Controlling touch was used to mildly control and direct the child's bodily conduct and participation in preschool activities, or to mitigate the educators' verbal disciplining. The study demonstrates the emotional complexity of ECEC enacted through the practices of haptic sociality. It supports the holistic policies arguing that embodied relational care should be integrated in ECEC, contrary to ideas that connect professionalism with emotional distance and lack of physical contact.

show abstract

“…Children' peer touch in early childhood settings Young children's use and experiences of touch have been explored only in a handful of observational quantitative studies in early childhood educational settings in the USA (Field et al 1994;Cigales et al 1996;Fleck and Chavajay 2009). They suggest that children's touch conduct differs from that of adults, and that it changes over time.…”

Section: Research On Intergenerational Touch In Educational Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Touch is prevalent in young children's lives in the socio-material space of early childhood institutions, where children spend time with educators and a large number of peers (e.g. Bergnehr and Cekaite 2018;Cigales et al 1996;Ben-Ari 2013). However, research on touch in institutional settings has so far mainly focused on intergenerational adult-child touch and is largely conducted through interviews with educators concerning their notions of appropriate educatorchild touch, and there is an on-going discussion about children's bodily integrity, with the appropriateness of educator touch being called into question (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s touch in a Swedish preschool: touch cultures in peer group interaction

Ekström

Čekaitė

2020

International Journal of Early Years Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Touch Among Children at Nursery School

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

Adult-initiated touch and its functions at a Swedish preschool: controlling, affectionate, assisting and educative haptic conduct

Adult-initiated touch and its functions at a Swedish preschool: controlling, affectionate, assisting and educative haptic conduct

Affectionate touch and care: embodied intimacy, compassion and control in early childhood education

Children’s touch in a Swedish preschool: touch cultures in peer group interaction

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About