Abstract:

‘The terrible twos' are often described as a time of ‘gaining control', usually thought of as adults asserting control over children, who learn to control themselves. However, toddlerhood is as much about children learning to take control for themselves. This paper is an attempt to detail something of the social geography in the toddler room of a Scottish nursery, considering both styles of adult control and the ways in which toddlers attempt to appropriate and reconfigure space and time for themselves. That is, the ways in which space and time are negotiated in the course of day-to-day nursery life.

Keywords: Early childhood; toddlers; childcare; control; space

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/14733280500161677

Affiliations: 1: School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, Scotland, UK