What do children think about what it is to be a family?

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a master’s thesis on what children think a family is and what criteria they use to define it. Inspired by the Cartographic Method, the research consisted of 6 group interviews, totaling 22 children between 6 and 11 years old, living in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Discussion was triggered by the production of family drawings. The children interviewed showed different ways of combining aspects considered important to understand family ties, such as affection, interaction and blood relations, which intermingle, overlap, move, recalling Deleuze’s concept of fold. In conclusion, focusing on how children intertwine their criteria offers us a broad look at families, open to multiplicity, giving greater importance to the affective quality of relationships.

Keywords:
child; family; groups of children