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- Title
SENDING CHILDREN TO KINDERGARTEN: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF MOTHERS' EXPERIENCES.
- Authors
McClelland, Jerry
- Abstract
The article presents the findings of a phenomenological study on the experiences of mothers with sending their children to kindergarten. It is generally found that parents struggle with preparing their children for kindergarten. Parents wonder whether their children should go to kindergarten this year or wait a year. The study suggests that sending a child to kindergarten signaled a change in the lives of their mothers. It caused them to worry in new ways about their children, it elicited feelings that they were letting go of their children, and it created mixed feelings about their children and themselves. For some mothers, who participated in the study, a child starting kindergarten decreased intimacy and companionship with the child. As the children entered kindergarten, the mothers had to adapt to the children who were changing and to their absence. Mothers worried about the unfamiliarity of school, the pain children might experience, and the safety of their children. Other mothers expressed general concern about the safety of their children getting to and from school, so they accompanied them there and fetched them home again.
- Subjects
KINDERGARTEN; PRESCHOOL education; KINDERGARTEN facilities; MOTHER-child relationship; INTERPERSONAL relations; ANXIETY; CHILD care
- Publication
Family Relations, 1995, Vol 44, Issue 2, p177
- ISSN
0197-6664
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/584806