Doing Good Parenthood: Ideals and Practices of Parental Involvement (Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life)

"This edited collection shows that good parenthood is neither fixed nor stable. The contributors show how parenthood is equally done by men, women and children, in and through practices involving different normative guidelines. The book explores how normative layers of parenthood are constituted by notions such as good childhood, family ideals, national public health and educational strategies. The authors illustrate how different versions of parenthood coexist and how complex sets of actions are demanded to fulfil today's expectations of parenthood in Western societies. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to research scholars in child and family studies, students, experts, social workers, politicians, teachers and parents. Anna Sparrman is Professor at the Department of Thematic Studies - Child Studies, Linköping University, Sweden. Allan Westerling is Associate Professor at the Department of People and Technology and the Centre for Childhood, Youth and Family Life research at Roskilde University, Denmark. Judith Lind is Lecturer at Department of Thematic Studies - Child Studies, Linköping University, Sweden. Karen Ida Dannesboe is Assistant Professor at the Department of Educational Anthropology, School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark"- - Springer Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction: Doing Good Parenthood....Pages 1-15 Time for Good Parenthood: A Study of Intercountry Adoption Assessment....Pages 17-27 No One of Importance: Lesbian Mothers’ Constructions of Permanently Anonymous Sperm Donors....Pages 29-40 Parenting on the Edge: Doing Good Parenthood in Child Protection Services Interventions....Pages 41-52 Ambitious Parents as Ideal or Disorder: Doing Good Parenthood in Denmark and Singapore....Pages 53-64 Ambiguous Involvement: Children’s Construction of Good Parenthood....Pages 65-75 Limited But Committed Parents: Primary School Teachers Negotiating Good Parenthood in a Disadvantaged Area....Pages 77-87 Doing Good Parenthood Through Online Parental Involvement in Danish Schools....Pages 89-99 Teenagers, Alcohol and Sex: Doing Good Parenthood on an On-line Discussion Board....Pages 101-112 The Ontological Choreography of (Good) Parenthood....Pages 113-125 Parenthood and We-ness in Everyday Life: Parenting Together Apart....Pages 127-136 Doing Good Parenthood: Reflexivity, Practices, and Relationships....Pages 137-147 Back Matter....Pages 149-152 Anna Sparrman, Allan Westerling, Judith Lind, Karen Ida Dannesboe, Editors. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.