Constituição da identidade infantil: Significações de mães por meio de narrativas

Abstract

In this article we discuss how mothers make meaning of their childhoods and the relationships between their children, as well as how they relate these meanings to the way child's identity is constructed. Our research is supported by scholars such as Wallon and Vigotski. Our research reached six mothers of children between three and six years. The mothers were interviewed individually, using semi-structured questions which aimed to investigate them and their childhoods, the maternal role and their relationships with their children. Mothers when talking about themselves, revealed their ideas about their childhood, interactions with their children and how their pasts brought new meaning to their relationship with their children. These meanings are important for child identity as well as the identity of the mothers themselves. The family context, therefore involves a cultural and social environment that helps to explain the multiplicity of meanings in the discourses of the mothers.