Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an analysis of the various dimensions of naturalness that shape the consumption practices of parents with young children.
Design/methodology/approach
The study builds on semi-structured interviews with 17 mothers and fathers focusing on parental decision-making in everyday consumption from pregnancy to the first years of the child’s life.
Findings
Naturalness is a tool allowing parents to navigate in a world of risks and part of an everyday consumption practice that constructs and maintains children as vulnerable and parents as responsible. Parents perceive naturalness as something with three dimensions: familiarity, purity and culture. These three dimensions lead to different parental practices around consumption.
Originality/value
The analysis contributes to the authors’ understanding of parenting, childhood, risk, safety and consumption by showing how and why parents of young children construct naturalness as a three-dimensional ideal in their consumption practices.
This paper aims to present an analysis of the various dimensions of naturalness that shape the consumption practices of parents with young children.
Design/methodology/approach
The study builds on semi-structured interviews with 17 mothers and fathers focusing on parental decision-making in everyday consumption from pregnancy to the first years of the child’s life.
Findings
Naturalness is a tool allowing parents to navigate in a world of risks and part of an everyday consumption practice that constructs and maintains children as vulnerable and parents as responsible. Parents perceive naturalness as something with three dimensions: familiarity, purity and culture. These three dimensions lead to different parental practices around consumption.
Originality/value
The analysis contributes to the authors’ understanding of parenting, childhood, risk, safety and consumption by showing how and why parents of young children construct naturalness as a three-dimensional ideal in their consumption practices.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Young Consumers |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 296-309 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISSN | 1747-3616 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- Childhood
- Naturalness
- Parental consumption practices
- Purity
- Risk
- Safety