Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the 1995 edition
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Handicap of Deafness
- 2 The Deaf Child at Play
- 3 Day-to-Day Living
- 4 Discipline and Punishment
- 5 Learning to Communicate: Equipment
- 6 Learning to Communicate: Education
- 7 Coming to Terms with Deafness
- 8 Family Life with a Deaf Child
- 9 The Family and the Community
- 10 Overview
- Appendix I The Interview Schedule
- Appendix II The Interview Situation: Advantages and Disadvantages
- Appendix III The Sample
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Day-to-Day Living
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the 1995 edition
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Handicap of Deafness
- 2 The Deaf Child at Play
- 3 Day-to-Day Living
- 4 Discipline and Punishment
- 5 Learning to Communicate: Equipment
- 6 Learning to Communicate: Education
- 7 Coming to Terms with Deafness
- 8 Family Life with a Deaf Child
- 9 The Family and the Community
- 10 Overview
- Appendix I The Interview Schedule
- Appendix II The Interview Situation: Advantages and Disadvantages
- Appendix III The Sample
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
For most mothers of young children, part of the day is taken up with routine tasks of caring for them: arranging meals, getting them up, putting them to bed, clearing up after them. What is the day-to-day routine for the mother of a deaf child? In some ways it is very similar, as I shall show in this chapter.
The mothers were asked how much they tried to get their children to look after themselves as far as matters of dressing, undressing, clearing up toys, going to the toilet were concerned. They were also asked how they felt about getting children to do things for themselves. As Newson and Newson found with hearing 4-year-old children, there were a whole range of views from an insistence that a child should do things for himself, to a feeling that children were only young once, and should be looked after. Some mothers felt that caring for young children in this way was part of their role.
Boy, 3 years, moderately deaf
I don't think children should do much for themselves at any age, but that's a personal opinion. I think you do quite enough when you're adult.
Boy, 4 years, profoundly deaf
I don't want to force him into grown-up ways while he's a baby. They're still babies, and they still want a bit of babifying I think.
Many parents took their lead from the child.
Girl, 3 years, severely deaf
If they show they want to do it, encourage them by all me ins, but don't force them to do it, I wouldn't say that.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Deaf Children and their Families , pp. 43 - 65Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995