TEDDY DIARIES REVISED WHAT THEY REVEAL ABOUT CHILDREN’S TIME, RITUALS AND SOCIALIZATION

Abstract

The socioemotional development of children is a subject of vital importance to societies as the way it is handled can have profound and pervasive developmental consequences for children well into the future. Seeking to give greater voice to children and their perspectives, I refashioned Haldar and Wærdahl’s (2009) method of teddy diaries to create my own toy diaries methodology. Through these toy diaries, this thesis investigates how engaging in weekend leisure activities allows the child as an individual to become anchored to his personal and familial biographies, thereby augmenting his socioemotional development. We start by examining the cultural conceptualization of social time, focusing on the divide between weekdays and weekends to discuss how the unique nature of weekends allow for both ‘me’ time as well as ‘we’ time to occur. Using Wolin and Bennett’s (1984) typology that categorizes family rituals into three distinct types (namely family celebrations, family traditions, and family interactions), we explore how each of these types contribute to the development and reinforcement of the family identity in terms of the family’s unique values, norms, and roles. Further, we examine how families and their children utilize weekend time to engage in ethnic and gender socialization, and how this allows children to reinforce their individual identity and sense of self through exploration and experimentation.