ABSTRACT
Care patterns and processes are affected by the way adults perceive and react towards both the general characteristics of children and a particular child’s individual nature. This chapter considers the main kinds of ideas used by parents to organise their thinking about children in relation to shared care. It discusses some specific attributes which children have. The two differing perceptions of distress were associated not only with differing value emphases (security or independence) but also dissimilar instrumental beliefs. Thus, crying defined as protest was usually seen as best dealt with by unambiguous preparation and firm departure. The child’s uncertainty was seen to be reduced by the clear communication and expectations. Besides descriptive images of children, parents also had explanatory beliefs about what affected children’s general nature or specific behaviours. Parents’ beliefs about stages tended to go together with their values about security and independence such that implicit models of child development could be identified.
