Children’s time in family contexts in Turkey

The question of how children “make use” of their time tend to be under control of their caregivers. The decisions on their time management particularly in family gatherings may depend on cultural values attributed to the children’s visibility. In contemporary Turkey, children’s physical presence in family events can be observed to be highly valued by parents. As research suggests, children’s social position tends to be defined through the power relations with adults (Sunar and Fişek, 2005) and children are expected to show respect and obedience to parental decisions. Their social presence brings “social value” to the family (Kagitcibasi, 1981). This paper aims to understand how the interaction between parents and children evolve around children’s visibility in family’s social spheres. It draws on the results of participant observational fieldwork conducted with 33 families in the city of Eskişehir in Turkey. In depth interviews and revisits were conducted with the 11 to 13- year-old children individually and with their parents as a couple. Interviews with children were supported with participatory action techniques such as going to cinemas and exhibitions, playing online and street games together. Results revealed that as social bodies, some children were requested to be present in large family gatherings, and were deprived of their phones, PCs by their parents when they did not show up. Some were made to speak up or perform their artistic skills before family guests upon parental request. Their response to parental demands varied. Some remained in their rooms refusing to be present, while being accused of not caring for cultural values by their parents. Some were tracked via smart watches and parental control apps. This presentation shares observations on how parental authority and cultural expectations interplay in terms of children’s social visibility during their time in family contexts. It discusses the roles of sociodemographic backgrounds of families in interactions between children and parents in this respect.