Families and their collaborators in the task of child rearing

Abstract

There is a growing tendency for children to be put into pre-elementary education institutions at an early age. This means that families receive assistance and guidance in the task of raising their children. With this in mind, the present study aims to find out what people or institutions collaborate with mothers and fathers in the work of rearing their children. Two instruments of data collection were used to meet this objective: a) identification instrument and b) an instrument about family and child rearing; subsequently, a third instrument was adapted, "The Restructured instrument of Biasoli-Alves and Graminha". The latter was applied in the form of a questionnaire. The participants are 50 men and 50 women (college graduates) with stable marital status and with children aged between 2 7 years. Fifty participants were selected from a city in the state of São Paulo (25 mothers and 25 fathers) and fifty from a capital in the Northeast of Brazil (same division). These participants were selected from post-graduate courses in private universities. They were submitted to a recorded interview using the two approaches, and later, the mothers were given the questionnaire. For data analysis, the interviews were transcribed and categories of answers were elaborated, according to the quantitative-interpretative system. The results show that an important collaborator in the child rearing process is the pre-elementary education institution/school. The presence of a nanny/maid is marked particularly in the participants from the Northeast. There is also the help of grandparents.