What All Parents Need to Know? Exploring the Hidden Normativity of the Language of Developmental Psychology in Parenting

Abstract

In this article we focus on how the language of developmental psychology shapes our conceptualisations and understandings of childrearing and of the parent-child relationship. By analysing some examples of contemporary research, policy and popular literature on parenting and parenting support in the UK and Flanders, we explore some of the ways in which normative assumptions about parenthood and upbringing are imported into these areas through the language of developmental psychology. We go on to address the particular attraction of developmental psychology in the field of parenting and upbringing within our current cultural context. Drawing on the work of (among others) Zygmunt Bauman, we will show how developmental psychology, as one of the instruments that contributes to a breaking down of our existential condition into a series of well-defined, and thus apparently manageable, tasks and categories, displaces rather than confronts the possibly limitless depth of the enormity of the reality of 'being a parent'. INTRODUCTIONThe language of developmental psychology has become part of our everyday way of speaking about childrearing and the parent-child relationship. No doubt, this is part of the intrusion of the language of the various sub-disciplines of psychology into everyday language and life in a more general sense-an intrusion to such an extent that we have been going through (what could be called) a 'psychologisation' of significant parts of our lives. In his recent book Psychologisation in times of globalisation (2012), Jan De Vos offers an insightful (and at times disturbing) analysis of the all-encompassing intrusion of psychology in all aspects of our human existence. The discourse of psychology, he argues, 'has invaded in an bs_bs_banner

‘Love builds brains’: representations of attachment and children's brain development in parenting education material

“…Rather it is framed as an accomplishment on the part of parents that results from very detailed, intensive and intentional behaviour informed by expert advice. This framing of attachment supports what Ramaekers and Suissa () suggest is an increasingly ‘impoverished view’ of the parent‐child relationship evident in contemporary parenting expertise. Rather than a two‐way relationship between active participants what is imagined here is a one‐way relationship with parents enacting calculated interventions upon children (Edwards and Gillies ; Hoffman , ).…”

“…Recent studies, however, suggest that the concept is currently taking an even more central place in brain‐based expert parenting advice and education and that the ways in which it is understood appear to be shifting (Faircloth , Hoffman , Macvarish et al . , Ramaekers and Suissa , Thornton ).…”

“…One result of these changes is a representation of the parent‐child relationship as a very instrumental and intentional one in expert advice material. As both and Edwards and Gilles () and Ramaekers and Suissa () point out, rather than a relationship between parent and child, parenting is now talked about as a set of goal‐oriented tasks that requires technical know‐how. Similarly, Diane Hoffman (, ) in a critique of resilience pedagogy notes that the parent‐child relationship that is imagined in this parental education is a therapeutic one where there is increased intervention by parents in children's lives.…”

“…The concept of attachment as developed and popularised by John Bowlby (1953Bowlby ( , 1958Bowlby ( , 1969, has long played a central role in expert parenting advice. An acceptance of secure attachment with a primary caregiver (usually a mother) as a necessary prerequisite for good child outcomes has persevered in expert advice even as understandings of children's needs and parental expectations have changed and expanded to incorporate intensive parenting and, more recently, brain-based intensive parenting (Hays 1996, Ramaekers and Suissa 2012, Thornton 2011. What several authors have noted recently, however, is a markedly stronger focus on attachment in brain-development-based parenting education material as concern about emotional development and resilience in children has increased.…”

“…What several authors have noted recently, however, is a markedly stronger focus on attachment in brain-development-based parenting education material as concern about emotional development and resilience in children has increased. These researchers have also noted that as emotional development has become more of a concern among child-rearing experts, understandings of attachment appear to be shifting while good parenting is becoming positioned as more interventionist and technical (Ramaekers and Suissa 2012, Hoffman 2010, Thornton 2011. If these findings are indeed indicative of a stronger emphasis on attachment in contemporary parenting advice and an ideological shift in understandings of proper parenthood, there are significant implications for the ways in which parenting is experienced and the parent-child relationship is imagined.…”