<論文>なぜ通い続けるのか? : ある子育て支援サークルの2つの利用のしかた

Abstract

In this article, I investigate the reason some mothers frequently go to a child-raising "circle" (social organization) and the manner in which they use it. To answer these questions, I interviewed nine mothers who regularly go to a child-raising circle. There are two types of mothers. One type attends the child-raising circle to get information about child rearing from other mothers and interacts with them for a while. However, they hesitate to befriend the other mothers. They do not feel the need to befriend the other mothers in order to garner their support or get information from them. Rather, they only need to be there to watch and talk with the other mothers and their children, who are also present. In contrast to the first type, the second type of mothers goes to the child-raising circle and become friends with the other mothers. To be more precise, they go there to maintain and further their relationships with some of the other mothers who have children in the same age group and of the same sex. Because of this, they become friends quickly. In addition, a member of them makes them to get closer to each other powerfully. They regularly go to meetings in order to meet and talk with the other members. More importantly, they meet with each other members outside of the child-raising circle without their sons. It means that their friendship is beneficial not only for the sons but also for the mothers themselves. For the mothers, meeting with other members of the group enhances their well-being. We can say that the child-raising circle is flexible enough to accommodate both contrasting ways of its use. This flexibility exhibits the uniqueness of child-raising circles amidst the many child-rearing support services in Japan.