Sociology of Childhood and Family

Nanny Families: Practices of Care by Nannies, Au Pairs, Parents and Children in Sweden, First Edition
Sara Eldén, Terese Anving

Paying privately for childcare is a growing phenomenon, and its rise in Sweden is particularly interesting because of the vast prevalence there of publicly funded day care. This book combines family practice and childhood studies theory with the personal perspectives of nannies and au pairs, parents, and the children themselves, to provide new understandings of what constitutes 'good care'.

The authors investigate the ways in which all participants look upon and experience the caring situation in the family and show the possibilities and problems of nanny/au pair care. The study illuminates ways in which paid domestic care workers 'do' family and care and contributes to wider political and scientific discussions of inequalities in and between families, in the context of changing welfare states.