Children’s crying in play conflicts
A locus for moral and emotional socialization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.37386Keywords:
preschool, play, peer conflict, crying, educatorsAbstract
The study examines young children's play and adults' responses to children's peer play conflicts (in preschools in Sweden) that result in crying. It shows how educators' participation in the resolution of children's play conflicts constitutes socialization practices that focus on moral and emotional aspects of children's conduct. Children's crying has previously been investigated primarily from psychological perspectives. Interactional studies have highlighted that children use different communicative resources in their play interactions and conflicts. Crying, however, has not been investigated in an educational context and not in its own right. The present study adopts social interactional and sociocultural perspectives on children's development and learning. The study is based on video ethnography from a Swedish preschool for children aged 1-4 years. The findings demonstrate that young children use crying as a communicative act that invites educators' active response to a moral transgression committed by a peer. The children use crying to position themselves as victims or perpetrators in a conflict that educators are called upon to resolve, while at the same time mediating between children. The analysis shows that children configure their crying as an embodied and publicly visible act to be noticed by educators, whose responses then accomplish the moral framing of play conflict.
References
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Kidwell, M. (2013). Interaction among children. In J. Sidnell & S. Tanya (eds), The Handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp. 509–532). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Lo, A. (2009). Lessons about respect and affect in a Korean heritage language school. Linguistics and Education, 20(3), 217–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2009.07.002
Miller, P. & Sperry, L. (1987). The socialization of anger and aggression. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33(1), 1–31.
Ochs, E. & Capps, L. (2001). Living Narrative: Creating Lives in Everyday Storytelling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Sterponi, L. (2009). Accountability in family discourse: Socialization into norms and standards and negotiation of responsibility in Italian dinner conversations. Childhood, 16(4), 441–459. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568209343269
Vingerhoets, A. (2013). Why Only Humans Weep. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570240.001.0001
Vicedo, M. (2017). Putting attachment in its place: Disciplinary and cultural contexts. European Journal of Development Psychology, 14(6), 684–699. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2017.1289838
White, E. J. (2013). Cry baby, cry: A dialogic response to emotion. Mind, Culture and Activity, 20(1), 62–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2012.692107
Wootton, A. (2012). Distress in adult–child interactions. In A. Peräkylä & M. Sorjonen (eds), Emotion in Interaction (pp. 64–91). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730735.003.0003
Ahn, J. (2016). ‘Don’t cry, you’re not a baby!’: Emotion, role and hierarchy in Korean language socialisation practice. Children and Society, 30(1), 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12125
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Bell, S. M. & Stayton, D. (1972). Individual differences in strange situation behavior of one-year-olds. In H. R. Schaffer (ed.), The Origins of Human Social Relations (pp. 17–57). London: Academic Press.
Bateman, A. (2015). Conversation Analysis and Early Childhood Education: The Co-production of Knowledge and Relationships. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Bergmann, J. R. (1998). Introduction: Morality in discourse. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31(3–4), 279–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.1998.9683594
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
Burdelski, M. (2013). ‘I’m sorry, flower’: Socializing apology, relationships, and empathy in Japan. Pragmatics and Society, 4(1), 54–81. https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.4.1.03bur
Butler, C. W. & Edwards, D. (2018). Children’s whining in family interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 51(1), 52–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2018.1413893
Cekaite, A. (2012). Tattling and dispute resolution: Moral order, emotions and embodiment in the teacher-mediated disputes of young second language learners. In S. Danby & M. Theobald (eds), Disputes in Everyday Life: Social and Moral Orders of Children and Young People. (pp. 165–191). Bingley: Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-4661(2012)0000015011
Cekaite, A. & Holm Kvist, M. (2017). The comforting touch: Tactile intimacy and talk in managing children’s distress. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 50(2), 109–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2017.1301293
Crossley, N. (1995). Merleau-Ponty, the elusive body and carnal sociology. Body and Society, 1(1), 43–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X95001001004
Danby, S. & Baker, C. D. (2001). Escalating terror: Communicative strategies in a preschool classroom dispute, Early Education and Development, 12(3), 343–358. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15566935eed1203_4
Denham, S., Bassett, H. & Zinsser, K. (2012). Early childhood teachers as socializers of young children’s emotional competence. Early Childhood Educational Journal, 40(3), 137–143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0504-2
Drew, P. (1998). Complaints about transgressions and misconducts. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31(3–4), 295–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.1998.9683595
Du Bois, J. (2007). The stance triangle. In R. Englebretson (ed.), Stancetaking in Discourse: Subjectivity, Evaluation, Interaction (pp. 139–182). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.164.07du
Dunn, J. (2003). Emotional development in early childhood: a social relationship perspective. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer & H. H. Goldsmith (eds), Handbook of Affective Sciences (pp. 332–346). Oxford: Oxford University press.
Edwards, D. (1999). Emotion Discourse. Culture and Psychology, 5(3), 271–291. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X9953001
Evaldsson, A. C. & Tellgren, B. (2009). ‘Don’t enter – it’s dangerous’: Negotiations for power and exclusions in pre-school girls’ play interactions. Educational and Child Psychology, 26(2), 9–19.
Goodwin, M.H., Cekaite, A., Goodwin, C. (2012). Emotion as stance. In A. Peräkylä & M.-L. Sorjänen (eds), Emotion in Interaction (pp. 16–63). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730735.003.0002
Hsuenh, Y. & Tobin, J. (2003). Chinese early educators’ perspectives on dealing with a crying child. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 1(1), 73–94.
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an Introduction. In G. H. Lerner (ed.), Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation (pp. 13–23). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.02jef
Kampf, Z. & Blum-Kulka, S. (2007). Do children apologize to each other? Apology events in young Israeli peer discourse. Journal of Politeness Research Language Behaviour Culture, (3)1, 11–37. https://doi.org/10.1515/PR.2007.002
Kidwell, M. (2013). Interaction among children. In J. Sidnell & S. Tanya (eds), The Handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp. 509–532). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Lo, A. (2009). Lessons about respect and affect in a Korean heritage language school. Linguistics and Education, 20(3), 217–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2009.07.002
Miller, P. & Sperry, L. (1987). The socialization of anger and aggression. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33(1), 1–31.
Ochs, E. & Capps, L. (2001). Living Narrative: Creating Lives in Everyday Storytelling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Sterponi, L. (2009). Accountability in family discourse: Socialization into norms and standards and negotiation of responsibility in Italian dinner conversations. Childhood, 16(4), 441–459. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568209343269
Vingerhoets, A. (2013). Why Only Humans Weep. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570240.001.0001
Vicedo, M. (2017). Putting attachment in its place: Disciplinary and cultural contexts. European Journal of Development Psychology, 14(6), 684–699. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2017.1289838
White, E. J. (2013). Cry baby, cry: A dialogic response to emotion. Mind, Culture and Activity, 20(1), 62–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2012.692107
Wootton, A. (2012). Distress in adult–child interactions. In A. Peräkylä & M. Sorjonen (eds), Emotion in Interaction (pp. 64–91). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730735.003.0003
Published
2018-12-03
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Section
Articles
How to Cite
Holm Kvist, M. (2018). Children’s crying in play conflicts: A locus for moral and emotional socialization. Research on Children and Social Interaction, 2(2), 153-176. https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.37386
