"Adults Control It Better." Health-related Practices, Responsibilities and Bonding in the Narratives of Polish Children

Abstract

This paper shows how everyday health-related practices are played out in respect to performing parent–children relationships. Based on research with children aged 8–11 years old, conducted in Poland in 2015–18 with the aim of studying their opinions about health, this paper shows that children frame health-related practices in a broader set of social networks. This paper suggests that negotiations concerning healthy lifestyle, common among modern families in Poland, represent rituals through which parent–child relationships are practiced. What is more, children play an active role in this process. Children feel responsible for their own and their family’s health and consider health-related practices as a way of “doing family”.