Mediating intimacy: parent-teacher digital communication and perceptions of ‘proper intimacy’ among early childhood educators

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study deals with perceptions of ‘proper intimacy’ disseminated through digital parent-teacher communication in early-childhood education and the implications for parents’ reflexive projects of self. The article brings sociological understandings about perceptions of proper parenting and intimacy together with research on digital communications. Qualitative data was collected from an on-line discussion of early-childhood educators on their uses of parent-teacher digital communications. Analysis reveals the dissemination of two ideals of ‘proper’ intimate relationships. Digital sharing of what goes on at preschool invites parents to have an ‘observant intimacy’ with their children, based on knowledge-from-a-distance of the child’s day. Complementing digital communication with face-to-face communication invites parents into an ‘instrumental intimacy’ with teachers – an emotional connection for the purpose of the child’s education. The article concludes with possible implications the perceptions of ‘proper intimacy’ disseminated through parent-teacher digital communications may have on contemporary parenting culture.