Chains of care

Abstract

More and more children, even the young ones from the age of one year, attend day care on a regular basis. To investigate how small children are taken care of and live their everyday life in Norway today, and how barnehage is included in their lives, a sample of families were followed from when the children were age one until close to three. The barnehage is seen as a link in the chain of care, for which the parents are the responsible ones. The barnehage thus implies an expansion of parenthood, with specific challenges. The family of one of the children, Adam, has been chosen for the presentation. Seeking information, providing Adam with the equipment and skills that seemed to be necessary of Adams parents and building personal relations with the professional care providers were among the strategies to ensure a high-quality care arrangement. It constitutes parenthood in a way that a) incorporates the life of the child at home and in day care, both practically as well as mentally, b) includes the parents' understandings of their own child as the child appears through daily routines and c) makes visible the relevant context for the making and remaking of their standards of care.