Introduction

This introductory chapter starts by summarising existing research on aspects of the pandemic experienced by children and families that are particularly relevant to the focus of the book:Â screen media and childcare. The second part of this chapter describes the theoretical lenses that are threaded through the subsequent chapters of the book to address major concepts such as media practices, parenting, childhoods, temporalities, and imaginaries. The third part of this chapter describes the research project upon which this book is based, including the methodological approach used across the seven countries. This part of the chapter highlights innovative methods, such as a visualisation exercise, and considers the layers and messiness of interviews that bear witness to the experience of the pandemic. The chapter concludes with an overview of the remaining chapters in the book.