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~Article 1: “Inviting the messy: Drawing methods and ‘children’s voices’” by Eldén (2012)
1. What are the basic assumptions that inform the reading?
-The author contributes to the conversation regarding children’s voices and state that there are issues of representation in this research area. Research suggests that drawing methods can reveal children’s “authentic” voices and allows for the complex stories of children’s lives in care to be uncovered.
2. What are the major organizing ideas?
-The voice of a child should be regarded as a process, a function of thought, rather than a pin-point location of a child’s view. The relationality of care contributes to the expression or repression of children’s voices, which involves “negotiations, reciprocity, and deservingness” through which relationships are affirmed as equal or “deserving”, or are undermined. A sociological interpretation of drawings allows for the complex narratives to contribute to the scientific understanding of children’s voices.
3. What serious questions does the reading raise regarding the fields of child and youth study?
-Acknowledging the relationality of care is tightly intertwined, in my opinion, with the importance of focusing on children as ‘active co-participants in their parent’s care’…and thus bringing children’s perspectives on care into research.
4. What serious omissions are left out of the article or reading (if any)?
-Drawing as a methodological approach seems accessible, but as suggested in previous research, the conversation about the drawing seems to be more meaningful than the drawing at face value. “Member-checking” could be useful when using the drawing method, to ensure that what we interpret and see in the produced image is what the child intends to communicate.
5. In what ways does this article reinforce, extend, challenge, or oppose your own views on child and youth study/research/practice?
-This article proposed a new lens in which to consider children’s voices as accessible, narrative thought processes, observed through drawing. Children can express themselves with flexibility and think “fluidly”, speaking to the nature of process. Meaning comes from the child’s interaction with others and environment, so as interaction continues, so does the child’s voice reflect the process of their thinking. The method of drawing is useful in research because it is another medium for children to express themselves and communicate, but it also allows the child to express their perspectives and display their understanding. “The drawing is a part of the whole picture”.
6. What do you take away from the reading in terms of your own child and youth practice?
-This article reinforces previous readings’ findings and suggestions. Working to recognize and acknowledge children as active participants in their lives is the beginning, emphasizing the value of children’s voices and encouraging children to use their voices, in any context and using multiple means, is the challenge. The power dynamic between child and adult is the struggle and cause of stratified spaces. Children have the capacity to have an “ideal view of care” and what they’d prefer within a situation, and it is our job as professionals working for the benefit of the child to ensure their needs are met and their rights are respected and upheld.