Play with a purpose

Intensive parenting, educational desires and shifting notions of childhood and learning in twenty-first century Singapore

Bibliographic Data

ID7707633
AuthorsKristina Göransson (0000-0002-4908-7851, Lund University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume30
Issue1
Pages24-39
Publication date2023-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChildhood (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0907-5682 • E-ISSN: 1461-7013
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09075682221138460
OpenAlexW4308474198
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited39

This article examines how Singaporean parents negotiate complex expectations in relation to current reforms aimed at raising creative and problem-solving children. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the article explores how ideas of brain-claiming, resilience, and natural exposure shape parenting practices around young children’s learning. The findings suggest that parents’ sentiments of uncertainty and guilt in relation to their children’s future are entwined with and fueled by a deep-rooted narrative of national survival, reproduced in the form of 21st century skills

Developmental psychology · Ethnography · Narrative · Natural (archaeology · Negotiation · Psychological resilience · Raising (metalworking · Relation (database · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Early Childhood Education and Development · Gender Studies · History · Parental Involvement in Education · Psychology · Social Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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Open DOIOpen Access