ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the child's world is shaped, controlled, and constrained by the decisions and actions of the adults who care for them. Child care is not simply a pedagogical or technical issue, it is a political and social issue whose character has changed throughout history and varied according to culture and society. The experience of children in programs organized in accord with an ideology of objectivity, efficiency, discipline and authority is not new. The child as a conscious becoming being pursues a 'project' of freedom in order to become some-one himself and not a being for others. The deconstructive process involves the examination of the theories, concepts, and understandings surrounding the phenomenon of infant-toddler day care, illuminating the values made primary, and those made secondary, in the everyday practices of caregivers. caregivers' adherence to the schedule serves as the "stipulations of norms" for the children's behavior.
