The differences between knowledge and practice: understanding the geographies of childrens health

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The differences between knowledge and practice
understanding the geographies of childrens
health

• Emma Rawlins
• MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit,
  Glasgow
• e.rawlins_at_sphsu.mrc.ac.uk

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The Childhood Obesity Crisis in the UK

• People want to make their own decisions about
  choices that impact on their health and to have
  credible and trustworthy information to help them
  do so. They expect the Government to provide
  support by helping to create the right
  environment. However, this principle is subject
  to two qualifications. First, people believe that
  we need to exercise a special responsibility for
  children who are too young to make informed
  choices themselves. Second, people agree that we
  need special arrangements for those cases where
  one persons choice may cause harm or nuisance to
  another, such as exposure to second hand smoke.
  We need to balance rights and responsibilities,
  in ways that protect health.
• Choosing Health, DoH, 2004, p3

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Parenting Practices

• Parents, and working class mothers in
  particular, are given advice by middle class
  parenting experts about childrens health and
  wellbeing
• This advice also draws on white, middle class,
  heteronormative notions of what family means
• These discourses are spatially and temporally
  specific

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Childrens Knowledge

• Personal and Social Health Education (PSHE),
  Citizenship, Food Technology, Science, Physical
  Education (PE) all contain teaching around
  healthy lifestyles

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Locating the individual in policy discourse

• Parents are held responsible for their childrens
  behaviour
• Children are also educated in Citizenship which
  constructs their role as an active citizen and
  individual
• This means that children are both independent
  and dependent simultaneously

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Family practices

• The Davidsons

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• but then my mum always, but its funny cos Im
  the opposite, my mum always used to cook she
  never had none of this frozen business like me,
  get out some frozen pies or something laughs
  Yeah. I still cook though, but not as much as my
  mum used to cook I cant stand cooking. Its
  horrible! laughs Even though I always try to
  get chips cos Ive got no choice, Ive got
  children, I need to cook, dyou know what I
  mean? Sara

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• Well, my Dad, my Dad said that when he was
  younger he only got like short pause three
  meals a day and stuff so, then, h-, because he
  used to, when he was younger he used to live in
  Jamaica and stuff and they used to have chicken
  and rice nearly all the time. And my mum used to,
  because she came from like a white kind of family
  like, she used to like, just like fish and stuff
  like that so I, I dont really Because weve
  been around more like black people and stuff she
  tries to cook like the same things that my Dad
  do, Dad does
• Eddy, aged 12

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• the kids actually push me sometimes to healthy
  eat. We decided were going to have a healthy
  eating week and we did it and we were going to
  try and continue it but I tell you, I couldnt
  even afford to do it, I know that sounds strange,
  but I went shopping, normally ma, bill, ma, ma
  shopping came to about fifty pounds, this week it
  came to about eight pound I thought how can I be
  paying thirty pound more cos I want to eat
  healthier?
• Sara

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• Instead of, cos I, I dont really buy any cheap
  name, name things, my Mum used to when I was
  younger but I dont really, I usually buy
  Walkers crisps, you know chocolate bars, named
  chocolate bars, good fruit, you know. I usually
  buy, even though I cant afford it, I try and buy
  alright stuff but you know what? Recently Ive
  been thinking Im not doing it anymore because
  they eat too much
• Sara

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Family Practices 2

• The Taylor- Haighs

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• Hannah Well Im a bit food police-y really
  because um, well, you are what you eat arent
  you? And many, many years ago having read all
  these articles about how awful fast food is and
  so on, I actually showed an article to the boys
  and they could both read and it made a huge
  impression on Aaron in particular, Josh not so
  much because he wasnt as competent a reader, but
  Aarons book to take to school is about fast food
  and how awful it is so theyre under no illusions
  you see about rubbish and um, Im fairly
  confident that they will know what to do. Do you?
• Robert Well, yeah I think that at a certain age
  theyll slip into sort of having a few of those
  things but I think generally theyve almost sort
  of got their minds focussed on not eating that
  sort of food
• H Theyve been indoctrinated!
• R Yeah, brainwashed
• H Lets be quite clear about this! Yes, there is
  no democracy!

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• Um, well, (pause) normally its like cereals
  that we like, like Golden Grahams or Apple Rings
  and stuff, um, (pause) but like if my mums gone,
  like my dad doesnt really mind but um, if shes
  only gone for one day then we dont do anything
  cos shed be able to tell that we had the cereal
  but sometimes when we go to France, when we go to
  the, like, the supermarket they have stuff there
  and we normally get a few Nestle things there
• Josh, aged 11

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• Im pretty confident that I know what theyre
  eating and I do know there are often trades that
  go on but that doesnt unduly worry me, um,
  because I take the view that (pause) I know what
  they eat for breakfast and I know what they eat
  in the evening and you can have two views on
  meals at lunchtime cant you? You can either say,
  well, I dont care what they eat cos they eat
  well at home, or, I know they wont choose
  anything thats rubbish because they dont eat
  rubbish at home so you can come at it from
  either side cant you? So Im fairly relaxed I
  know that they go, I know what they go with so if
  they trade homemade flapjack for chocolate
  biscuits shrugs thats my view
• Hannah

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Conclusion

• Children are simultaneously located as
  in/dependent agents within the discourse of UK
  health education policy
• Decisions that children make about eating are
  often influenced by what happens not only within
  the home space but beyond it
• Parenting practices are gendered, classed,
  heteronormative discursive constructions and as
  such are both temporally and spatially specific
• A better understanding of all of these practices
  will help policy makers think of more appropriate
  methods of health education

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Any questions?
Many thanks to the ESRC for funding this research