Young children’s perspectives researched from everyday life: methodological considerations

The paper discusses methodological issues in relation to researching young (0-4 year) children’s first person’s perspectives. Drawing on a recent Danish study of children’s compound everyday life across day care contexts and family life, I argue that focusing on the children’s gazes and bodily expressions constitute a central knowledge source for learning about the children’s perspectives. The aim is to raise a theoretical discussion about how the concept ‘conduct of life’ is related to the concept ‘first person perspective’ by a third concept ‘subjective situation’ [befindlichkeit, Osterkamp-Holzkamp 1991]. This theoretical juxtaposition contributes by linking children’s experiences and emotional feelings to concrete social situations in everyday life. These theoretical discussions contribute to methodological considerations in relation to doing situated analysis of preverbal children’s first person perspectives. The empirical data stem from participant observations of 6 Young children in their everyday life contexts.