Shared Care for Children

Abstract

Developmental psychologists have no adequate way of understanding shared care because their theories are rooted in a pedagogic concept of family upbringing with mother at home. This article shows how deeply developmental theories, concepts and research questions are anchored in the moral and social-political choices and problems of the middle class. Special attention is given to attachment theory as a pedagogic model for regulating emotions and behavior and for internalizing moral concepts. An analysis of research `waves' into day care shows the impossibility of a universal answer to questions about quality. To produce knowledge which is based on the realities of the parents and children who make use of day care, psychologists have to relinquish their claim to superiority, and they have to work out new context-bound theories. The last part of the article notes new moves in day care research towards context-bound theories of the socio-emotional development of children.

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