Being Good Parents or Being Good Citizens: Dilemmas and Contradictions of Urban Families in Middle‐Class Enclaves and Mixed Neighbourhoods in Germany

In recent years, cities have become ever more attractive to middle‐class families. On the one hand, middle‐class families tend to withdraw into (often newly built) socially homogeneous middle‐class neighbourhoods. On the other hand, they are also known to move into inner‐city and socially mixed areas, thus triggering processes of gentrification. Academic literature has often denounced these housing choices as being either ‘separatist’ or ‘revanchist’, more broadly categorized as strategies of ‘middle‐class disaffiliation’. Although there is a grain of truth in these interpretations, the reality is certainly more complicated. In our research on middle‐class parents’ housing and neighbourhood choices as well as their patterns of neighbourhood use, carried out in each of the two types of residential area mentioned above, we have only very rarely found an explicit desire to draw boundaries that exclude those ‘beneath’ them. We rather argue that the housing choices and neighbourhood‐related activities of middle‐class family households are heavily influenced by the specific dilemmas the interviewees face as (working) urban parents. While a significant number of respondents worry about the social sustainability, justice and cohesion of urban society, they are also concerned about the future prospects of their children. Many find it difficult to reconcile these conflicting normative demands under the prevailing circumstances.     

Parental perception of lunch schemes in Danish kindergartens: A cross-sectional survey

Children’s daily consumption of food in childcare institutions has an impact on their public health nutritional status. The collaboration of parents and employees of kindergartens is important to ensure healthy eating habits among the next generation. Consequently, evaluations of lunch schemes are important to provide a good foundation for enhancing communication between home and institutional settings. The aim of this article is to assess parental satisfaction and identify themes related to parental perceptions of lunch schemes in Danish kindergartens. A survey was developed and distributed in four kindergartens with lunch schemes. A combination of closed and open questions were used to evaluate satisfaction and identify positive and negative aspects of the lunch schemes. Parents of 93 children participated in the study and the response rate was 55%. Eighty-nine percent expressed satisfaction with their children’s lunch scheme. According to parents, the most positive aspects were that lunch schemes serve a variety of food, their ability to prevent neophobia, that children learn that eating is a social occasion, and that the arrangements offer convenience to parents. The negative aspects identified were the lack of communication between the kindergarten childcare institutions and the parents regarding the food. Overall, parents are very satisfied with their children’s lunch schemes; however, the information between institutions and parents could be improved.     

The Essential Role of Sense of Community in a Youth Sport Program

This multiphased study identifies the salient benefits that parents seek for their families from a youth sport program. Phase 1, a preseason focus group study of parents of swimmers in three clubs (N = 15), indicated parents seek a sense of community for their children and themselves, and sense of community is linked to their desire for children to learn sport and life skills. Phase 2, a postseason survey of parents in the same three clubs (N = 129), tested the relationships among coaching quality, friendships, organizational communication, sport and life skills, sense of community, parents' satisfaction, and their repeat purchase intention. Using path analysis, sense of community was identified as the key driver of satisfaction and repeat purchase intention, with swimming improvement also having a significant effect on satisfaction. These findings highlight the central role sense of community plays for participants and their families in youth sport contexts.     

Hong Kong parents' perceptions of the transference of food preparation skills

Food preparation skills among young adults are associated with healthy food choices, better diets and a greater likelihood of an independent, healthy adult life. This study conducted in Hong Kong aimed to investigate parents' perceptions of cooking skills; to explore the transference of cooking skills in the home setting; to identify parents' expectations regarding the transference of cooking skills; and to inform the development of educational initiatives for developing healthy eating habits. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect information of the subjects' cooking experience, attitudes about cooking skills, cooking habits at home, family meal habits, transference of cooking culture in the family and the factors influencing the choice of ingredients and cooking. It was administered to 1009 Hong Kong parents (of students aged between 11 and 18, studying in 15 secondary schools). The collected data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 12.0, SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and cross‐tabulation analyses were used to compare the responses of the parents by gender, employment status and income. The results show that parents valued cooking as important life skills for both boys and girls. Parents generally perceived their cooking skills either good (41.9%) or mediocre (54.5%), yet children are rarely taught these skills in the home. Family meals prepared primarily with fresh ingredients are still an important part of the daily routine, and mothers are dominating the roles in food choice decision, cooking and buying the ingredients for family meals. Mothers and schools are expected to be the major channel to teach children cooking skills. Findings suggest that parents are well‐disposed towards providing food and nutrition education at home, but need more support (50% reported that home should be a primary support for learning cooking skills; 36% indicated that the school should have a responsibility to teach children to cook starting in elementary school). Schools may do well to collaborate with families in food literacy education initiatives. Developing individuals' cooking skills paves the way for long‐term health benefits and the well‐being of the local population.     

From pushchairs to wheelchairs: understanding tensions in family decision making through the experiences of adult children caring for ageing parents

Abstract

Within a modern family life, roles have changed significantly; however, relatively little attention has been given to the increased health and longevity of parents. This article focuses on the tensions relating to the transitional role of parent as ‘carer of the child’ to child as ‘carer of the parent’ as parents age. This article focuses on the experiences of adult children as they care for their parents and the related tensions that emerge and coping strategies that are adopted. Adopting an interpretive approach we shed light on the decision-making practices around shopping, residential arrangements and other consumer choices and how they take place in complex arenas of intricate family interactions, influence and power. Key themes that emerged were strategies adopted by both the adult child and ageing parent to attain or retain control in an increasingly sensitive environment where there is no roadmap to guide either party.     

计划生育政策对居民储蓄率的影响

本文在选取相关分析指标的基础上,采用我国省际面板数据,实证分析了计划生育政策对居民储蓄率的影响。分析结果表明：计划生育政策的实施将引起居民储蓄率的下降,计划生育政策下的独生子女家庭对储蓄的偏好较弱。本文发现,独生子女家庭具有“高风险、低储蓄”的特征,抗风险能力十分低下。想要化解独生子女家庭的风险,就必须继续放开现行的计划生育政策。本文的研究价值在于,为我国长期人口经济政策的制定与现行政策的调整提供参考与依据。     

初中生与家长沟通现状调查研究

通过对太原两所中学部分初中生进行的初中生与家长沟通状况调查研究发现,初中生与家长沟通频率普遍比较低,沟通内容单一,针对某一问题的探讨不能深入。并且大多数学生认为家长对自己的干涉较多,要求太高。对此提出了通过树立正确的教育观,增进理解,掌握沟通的技巧,创造轻松愉快的学习生活空间,全面改善沟通状况的对策建议。     

如何提高小学生的科学成绩和综合素质

小学教育的对象是祖国的花朵,做好学生小学时候的教育工作,对学生长大后的发展有重要的意义,甚至影响学生的一生。本文对如何提高小学生的学习成绩和综合素质进行了简要的论述。     

Children's perception of dinner conversation with parents in Japan

The children's perception of dinner and dinner conversation with their parents was surveyed for sixth‐grade students of elementary school in Japan. The data were analysed from the gender of children and attending parents. The children had dinner and dinner conversation more frequently with their mother than with their father. With father attendance, girls and boys had the same frequency of dinner and dinner conversation, although, with mother attendance, girls had dinner conversation more frequently than boys. Most of the children felt happy when they had dinner with their parents. However, a lower percentage of children felt happy when having dinner conversation with their parents, thought that they were important to their parents and thought dinner conversation was useful. More children felt happy during dinner and dinner conversation with their mother than with their father. However, there was no perceived difference in the usefulness of the conversation based on the father or the mother attending. The contents of conversation were greatly affected by which parent was attending. Subjects concerning children's manners were talked about more frequently in conversation with mothers than with fathers. Children had more frequent conversations with their father about ‘social issues’ and the ‘parents’ surroundings’ than with their mother. Girls had more frequent conversations on a wider variety of subjects with their mothers than boys. Girls could more easily share in their mothers’ knowledge or sense of values through dinner conversation. Boys were, for the most part, excluded from this process in conversation with either parent.     

Effects of financial constraints on export performance of firms during the global financial crisis: microeconomic evidence from Korea

This study uses a manufacturing firm-level panel data set of South Korea for 2006–2013 to investigate the effect of financial constraints on the export performance of firms, with particular emphasis on the corporate ownership structure. The empirical results show that foreign multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries are not affected by financial constraint during both crisis and noncrisis periods, implying advantages of foreign ownership. However, domestic firms suffer more from financial constraints on exports during crisis years. In particular, domestic firms without parent firms are financially constrained during both crisis and noncrisis periods. However, those with parent firms do not experience financial constraints during noncrisis periods, although they too suffer from them during crisis periods. Thus, parent–subsidiary linkage among domestic firms plays an important role in alleviating financial constraints on export activity in noncrisis years but not as much during crisis years. Therefore, domestic parent firms exhibit less resilience to the global financial crisis, in comparison to foreign MNC parent firms.