Exploring transactions between thriving toddler girls and their fathers and grandfathers

Abstract

Fathers' interactions with their young children are understudied. Variations between families in the masculine nurturance of toddlers can be expected, depending on personal characteristics, gender, family structures, and cultural contexts in which they are situated. This is a qualitative study, focusing on probing the nature of the exchanges between female toddlers and their male caregivers, to gain an understanding of the dynamic nature of these interchanges. We observed four thriving 30-month-old girls in Italy, the UK, Peru, and Thailand, wherein filmed transactions between them and their fathers and grandfathers during one Day in their Lives were observed, documented, and analysed. The case studies of these young girls demonstrated considerable agency in their interactions with their caregivers, which were, in part, responsible for a wide range of promotive nurturance styles in the adults.

Keywords:

• fathers
• grandfathers
• toddlers
• transactions
• agency
• thriving

Notes on contributors

Catherine Ann Cameron is Honorary professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia and Emerita professor at the University of New Brunswick, Canada.

Giuliana Pinto is full professor in Psychology at the University of Florence, Italy.

Roger Hancock is a semi-retired lecturer/researcher who works as an educational consultant.

Sombat Tapanya is in the Psychiatry Department of Chiang Mai University, Thailand.