ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces some general comments about changing parenthood in Spain due to a decline in the birth rate and an increase in the presence and use of childcare services. The comments are intended as a guide to childrearing practices. All research was conducted in Barcelona. The chapter discusses the ethnographic examples of the negotiation process of proper parenting between immigrant and local parents, on the one hand, and education and healthcare workers, on the other. It also discusses the contradictory childrearing practices that emerge when immigrant parents do not replace their own practices with those suggested by the institutions. Immigrant mothers and families are seen as showing more confidence in their childrearing practices, which they adapt according to their own criteria and their understanding of autonomy. These families perceive autonomy as having greater control over basic and biological needs and, at the same time, as promoting social relationships between their children and members of the community.
