Daily interaction at home is a child’s first contact with the social world. In families with infants, interaction is strongly shaped by embodied interaction, touch, and emotions. Children need continuous attention, care and touch to grow and develop into a well-adjusted person. At the same time, parents must balance these needs with their own and with everyday household demands.
Although parental exhaustion is often discussed, little is known about what actually happens in everyday parent–child interaction and how it is experienced in daily life. This study examines how parents caring for young children at home interact with their children and with each other, using video ethnography, participant observation, and interviews.
We focus on how parents and young children interact through touch and emotional expression, and how practical tasks—such as attending to a child’s bodily needs or completing household chores—are coordinated through embodied interaction. We also explore how parents manage being with a baby or toddler while cooking, using the bathroom, or communicating with others, and what coping strategies parents develop in routine daily activities.
Our aim is to highlight the diversity of social interaction, touch and emotions especially from the participants’ viewpoint.
The data is collected for the purposes of two projects studying social interaction:
- Controversies of touch in close relationships: the interrelation to negative and positive affect. The project is funded by the Academy of Finland, and the PI is Julia Katila (Tampere University). The project lasts until 31 August, 2029.
- Available? At the interface of focused and unfocused interaction. The project is funded by Kone Foundation, and the PI is Kreeta Niemi (University of Jyväskylä). The project lasts until 31 August, 2028.