Parents from the Point of View of their Children

There are many studies of parents and the effects of parenting, and some of these deal with the relationship between parents and children. There is, however, a paucity of information about the child's point of view; how he or she views the parents and the place they have in their lives. The research summarised here is based on 160 semi-structured interviews with children aged between 6 and 9 years, from a wide variety of backgrounds. They were all asked open questions about a range of issues, from their immediate surroundings to their attitudes towards the world as a whole. In this context, where children talked openly about what they had observed--of bullies at school or disasters seen on television--the subject of parents was voluntarily included. Children discussed the relationship between their parents, their ways of life, their economic circumstances, their relationships, their arguments and their influence. The implications of the children's points are discussed.