Pode ou não pode? Grupo de mães e pais online debatendo regras e limites: um olhar da psicologia analítica

Abstract

Within the scope of Clinical Child Psychology, several studies focus on the participation of parents in childcare, but little attention is directed at the experience of parenting and the relationship with children, especially when parents are faced with the task of educating and imposing rules and limits on their children. This work, based on the perspective of Analytical Psychology, aims to investigate the attitudes reported by mothers and fathers in relation to the rules and limits given to their children. This is a qualitative study in which nine single or married mothers and fathers with children between the ages of 4 and 6 participated. The instruments used were the following: initial interviews, online reflective groups in two sessions and photography as an expressive imagery resource in order to facilitate subjective expression. The online group modality was applied due to the social isolation resulting from the pandemic caused by COVID-19. The analysis follows the thematic procedure, pointing to two types of attitudes in a broad way: on the one hand, mothers and fathers are understanding, flexible and include their children in the educational process, maintaining closeness and openness to dialogues and agreements. On the other hand, in their speeches and associations from the non-verbal photographic resources, there are signs of insecurities and uncertainties in their actions with their children and between the parental couple, with hesitations to assume firm conduct in situations in which they would be necessary. The conclusion is that the group and the use of photography are powerful and enriching tools in promoting spaces for listening to parents in order to aid the subjective construction of their roles and strengthen their parental behavior in the educational process