Understanding and Caring for Parents: Moral Reflexivity in the Discourse of Chilean Children

In many societies, children tend to be seen as morally immature and predominantly as objects of parental care. In this chapter, these habitual views are questioned from the perspective of childhood studies; children’s moral reflexivity in regard to their parents’ wellbeing and the care children provide them are highlighted. From two discursive studies carried out in Chile in different socio-economic strata and with children aged from 10 to 11, the children’s concerns about their parents – whom they perceive as being overwhelmed and irritable and how best to support them in these conditions – are revealed. This involves the children in concrete actions of care as well as efforts to become a good son or daughter, and a good child, by sparing their parents difficulties and making them happier. The moral reflexivity shown by the children in these studies must be understood in the current context of intensive parenting, a growing trend in Chile, as in other countries. At the same time, such reflexivity involves complex and subtle relational processes and identities. Thus, care goes beyond material or emotional support to parents; boundaries are blurred between individualism and altruism, as well as between an ethic of care that is context-sensitive and one that is more abstract and universal in nature.