THE NUTS-AND-BOLTS OF CHILD CARE AND SOCIALIZATION: A RESOURCE FOR PARENTS AND CHILD MINDERS

Abstract

Whereas traditionally, child care and socialization in Botswana was the responsibility of the nuclear family, the extended family kin network, and the community at large, such structures have gradually diminished in size. The philosophy and art of child care and socialization used to be passed from older generations to younger one, usually by way of oral tradition and apprenticeship. However, the present economic activities do not allow time and human resources for the oral transmission of the philosophy and art of child care and socialization across generations. Unfortunately, this happens at a time when there are many challenges in the environment that dictate that guidance on child care receives even more attention than it did a few decades ago.  It is therefore necessary that child care and socialization be formally guided.  This paper presents what taking care of and socializing children in a manner that enriches rather than compromises their development, maturity and successful integration into the society entails.

The paper is informed by the authors’ personal experience of growing up in a Setswana tradition as well as by conceptual and empirical work on child care and development. The paper focuses on three broad areas of a) family environment, b) the community within which the family exists, and c) the child as an individual. The author carefully selects what is considered to be good practices in child care, arguing that the family, the community, and the child him/herself play a key role in successful child socialization and care.