![]() However, participants did not simply repeat the norms represented by their objects. They might also be said to represent normative ideas about child development and the tendency to view children as precursors to productive adulthoods. A range of objects were shared, including stuffed toys, bikes and binoculars, games and puzzles, drawings and books.Īt first glance, there may be nothing surprising about these choices. Participants were asked to discuss their objects in focus groups. Our research examines how childhood memories shape the ways prospective teachers and people seeking to work with children understand their roles as future educators.Īs part of our work, we asked undergraduate students enrolled in teacher education and childhood studies programs to select an object - a token, toy or tool - that they believed to represent childhood. ![]() (Shutterstock) Teachers remembering childhood Toys created for children are also about adult longings for childhood. As archaeologist Jane Eva Baxter suggests, toys and playthings may say as much about adult longings for childhood as they do about the children for whom they are intended. Play objects designed for children are, too, driven by nostalgia. Still today, in dominant popular western imagination, childhood is understood to be a time before responsibility, before problems and violence and before knowledge about loss and death. Historically, nostalgia can be linked to childhood and a longing to return to a fantasied state of innocence. Longing for pre-pandemic times may defend against the many losses of COVID-19 and the uneven effects of illness, online learning and access to resources for children, young people and adults. ![]() In the unfolding context of COVID-19, yearning to return to life as “normal” can also produce unrealistic expectations and feelings of impatience, frustration and fear. However, nostalgia reflects an overly positive view of this time, and centres the experiences of those more privileged or protected in society. Some people may even experience an increased longing for the early days of COVID-19, when lockdowns felt like a break from the rush of everyday life. Since nostalgia often brings to mind memories of cherished social bonds and togetherness, it may also help people cope with feelings of loneliness.Ĭultural theorist Svetlana Boym adds that nostalgia disrupts “ the irreversibility of time that plagues the human condition” and offers a way of using the past to rethink the present and future.įor these reasons, nostalgia may be especially important for people made vulnerable by displacement, bereavement and mental health challenges. ![]() York University and Carleton University provide funding as members of The Conversation CA-FR.īut nostalgia can create an overly simplistic picture of the past that hinders attention to the present and limits the imagination of a different future. York University and Carleton University provide funding as members of The Conversation CA. Universitié Concordia provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA-FR. Sandra Chang-Kredl receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Fonds de Recherche de Québec - Société et Culture (FRQSC) PartnersĬoncordia University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. Garlen receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. ![]() Lisa Farley receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.ĭebbie Sonu receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Associate Professor, Education, York University, CanadaĪssociate Professor, Curriculum and Teaching, Hunter CollegeĪssociate Professor, Childhood and Youth Studies, Carleton UniversityĪssociate Professor in Education, Concordia University ![]()
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