Negotiating family, negotiating food: children as family participants

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Negotiating family, negotiating food children as
family participants

• Professor Allison James, Dr. Penny Curtis, Katie
  Stubbs University of Sheffield

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Changing Families, Changing Food

• Research programme, funded by Leverhulme Trust
• Food as lens to understand family change
• 13 projects
• Children as family participants -
• 120 12 years old interviewed , 4 schools
• 40 children parents interviewed at home
• 12 case-studies (matched child/ adult
  interviews)
• sampling variables - class/ethnicity/household
  composition

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Theoretical considerations

• Family practices (Morgan 1996) - doing family
• But also
• Hegemonic cultural ideas of family
• Children as constituting the family
• But
• What role do children play in doing family ?

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Children families

• Zeiher ( 2001)
• Childrens status changing
• Children as increasingly dependent on serviced
  by the family
• Children as dependent, but also independent
  activities
• Children as interdependent equal family members

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Children families

• Alanen ( 2001)
• Family children - childing practices keep
  children centred in the family
• Non-family children - children make use of
  external resources outside of the family

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Proper family, proper food, proper children

• Charles and Kerr (1988), Murcott (1982)
• my mum always makes like a really nice meal at
  night like a proper meal with everything in it
  (Dean)
• as long as you can have vegetables with it
  cause my Mum thinks that youve always got to
  have a vegetable for your tea (Mary)
• 'loads of vegetables in not just like chips. And
  like with meat in. (Tim)

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Proper family, proper food, proper children

• Meals were always cooked from scratch. She used
  to cook a man meal, veg and potatoes, meat and
  potato pie. Whereas me, I do cook from scratch.
  Now and again but I do use convenience food as
  well. Tea was always on the table when we came
  home from school... and it was always lovely.
  (mum)
• I know it sounds awful but some days, if Ive
  been working, its just like a quick pizza put in
  the oven (mum)

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Proper family, proper food, proper children

• Virtues of commensality
• we have a big table in the living room. But we
  used to have it in the kitchen. but we couldnt
  watch tv so we didnt eat our dinners so my mum
  and dad decided to have it in the living room so
  we can watch TV and eat dinner at the same time
  (Anna)
• Sunday roastis cause its more like get all
  family like together sitting round a table with a
  nice big kind of like beef and stuff like that.
  Sprouts and parsley and all stuff like that.
  (Sam)

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Childrens views? Childrens status?

• I was really angry, Im like, My mum has just
  spent .. my mums looking after you for a day.
  And you wont eat the food shes put on your
  plate.. that is so unfair (Paul)

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Questions

• Does the preparation and consumption of a proper
  dinner work as a key childing practice within
  families?
• If so.
• What kinds of childhood identities does it
  accomplish in different families?
• In what ways are children active family
  participants?
• Does food always provide a lens for family life?

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Maiseys family

• I think we know what they like and what they
  dont. (mum)
• I mean, they both know that they can eat meat if
  they decide they want to. (mum)
• My dad or my mum or sometimes my brother cooks
  stir-fries but like everyone always helps for
  tea. (Maisey)

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Roys family

• I tend not to give them food that they dont
  like basically. You know, you learn as they get
  older, dont you, the things that they do and
  dont like. We just eat food that everybody
  likes. Sometimes, if ones away playing
  somewhere, well have something they dont like
  on that night (Roys mum)

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Roys family

• thats been a big thing on me 'cause Ive
• always done everything. You know, Ive
• never expected em to do anything and Im the
  type
• of person that I like things done in a certain
  way
• so its better to do it my way.. just as I
  say,
• Ive always brought em up to, to not do it
  really. (mum)

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Gemmas family

• (food often causes arguments) between me and my
  Mum 'cause Im like, Oh I dont wanna eat that.
  (Gemma)
• usually she asks me if I like it before and Ill
  just say no. Then shell say, Ok I wont make
  it. (Gemma)

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Cooking family food

• most of the time we try and fit into it so that
  people will like it. For example, last night
  there was onion gravy and we know that Billy
  likes not to have onions so you just scoop the
  gravy out without the onions. So we try to
  compromise wherever possible (mum)
• so they just have fish fingers instead of salmon
  and then eat everything else (mum)
• I do ask what people want, but if everybody wants
  different things its tough and they just have to
  want one thing (mum)

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Symbolic food sharing

• Ive always given them two carrots on their
  plate. You know, whether theyve wanted em or
  not, But I dont really give em things they
  dont want cause its a waste (mum)
• Say were having mashed potato sausage and peas
  or something and me and my brotherll have mashed
  potato omelette and peas and gravy and theyd
  all have sausages . But she always gives me a
  tiny bit to try (Tina)
• dont like stew but when she does (it) she just
  says to eat it. Cause you should be grateful
  for what youve been given. And I say I know
  that but I dont like it. I just eat and and, I
  dont like meat. so I just left all the meat and
  everything. (Joanne)

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Family food, family membership

• Hes been very good, he was never fussy and he
  always tries things . (mum)
• Its just dont give up. Its on their plate. If
  they dont like it they can leave it, but it
  still gets put on the plate (mum)
• I gotta eat some of it at least and that way Im
  having a bit of a meal. But if I just leave it on
  the plate my Mumll make me sit there until I eat
  some of it (Paula)

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Absence of family food, absence of family?

• The boys tend to eat together and we tend to eat
  together and thats purely and simply because of
  the timing, I think. Just for timing. We dont
  tend to sit at the table, to eat as a family,
  even if we are eating at the same time. Purely
  and simply because the boys are always
  interrupted from whatever theyre doing to come
  and have their tea. So its a quick thing.
  Whereas, we. But well come downstairs and have
  those trays with cushions underneath. On
  occasions we eat upstairs but as a rule it is a
  nuisance to try and eat together because theyre
  always in too much of a rush to be off. Back to
  wherever theyve come from (mum)

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Absence of family food, absence of family?

• If its something that the dog can eat Ill give
  it to her and its alright with my mum as long
  as I make a sandwich or somemat like that to eat.
  (Peter)
• Yeah, well quite often Ill say, Oh well, Im
  cooking that
• for dinner and then therell be moans of Oh
  well, I
• dont like that and I dont want that. So
  theyll go and make an
• egg sandwich or beans on toast. (mum)

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Maiseys family

• I think shes certainly more strongly motivated
  and more strongly principled to be a vegetarian
  than, than I am certainly, I mean, it kind of
  comes from her and her own thinking about it.
  And I think the gelatine more than from me 'cause
  I mean, for example, I eat gelatine. (dad)

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Irenes family

• ' don't mind her (mother) making like my lunch or
  something. But I do mind her making my
  breakfast. And she has to ask me what I want for
  tea. I can't sit down and she'd be like "Oh,
  we're having pasta or ravioli" or something and
  I'd be like, "Well, like it's not the best
  choice, so why didn't you ask me?" And I'd go
  hungry or something. (Irene)
• I know I'm a bit of a pain at times but I have
  people's interests at heart.I was allowed to
  fall asleep on the sofa. Whereas to me thats a
  no way situation. They go to bed. They have
  reading in bed. Winters more structured than
  summer obviously. In winter were upstairs for
  seven oclockOh, ay. Yeah. Reading. Well
  have done homework. We read. .. in winter. We
  come home, we do the homework, we have tea and
  then its upstairs. And well read. And
  everybodys in bed by eight oclock. (Irenes
  mum)

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Conclusion

• I think hed (Chris) actually prefer it if we
  could all get up and have something, even if we
  just had a cup of tea (mum)
• if Im in a bad mood I just grab my food and go
  upstairs and like shut the door and lock it, But
  then if Im in a good mood then we all sit down
  and eat (Cathy)

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Conclusion

• Sharing of food sharing of family
• BUT
• Different generational hierarchies different
  child identities different food practices
• MEANS
• Family may be done outwith the sphere of food