A transition was slowly occurring. Children definitely wanted more freedom away from the family. The desire for freedom was more apparent with children at the latter end of middle childhood (10 - 12 years), as the following discussion explores.
6.4.1.1 Playing out / going out
The desire for freedom was especially apparent amongst the boys. This was evident previously when some of the older boys wanted mobile phones so they could be off playing with friends locally (section 6.2). However, girls were a little later; it seemed to be a slower process for them. Freedom was starting to become evident for them in their conversations about organising events. Girls were beginning to organise aspects of their social lives, as Nicky highlights.
Nicky: I like it when you go to do a sleepover, because you can check if you need to bring a sleeping bag or something [Children's fgp, 9 / 10 years]. Here,
Nicky is thinking carefully about what she needs to bring to her planned social event.
Although children, the older ones especially, enjoyed doing activities with their friends, they were still interested in doing activities with the family too. They might even contribute to the organisation of a family event over the internet, as Nicky again discusses.
Nicky: What we have been doing recently. My cousin and uncle are coming to stay at my house. We are having a party for my uncle. We are going to Leamington and we have to have a menu to say like what we will be eating at like what time [Children's fgp, 9 / 10 years].
Surrounding any social event there is a need to organise what individuals are going to do together. Ling and Yittri (2002) maintain that the need to plan activities is an essential part of socialization, with mobile / internet devices playing a crucial role. Children would sometimes use emails / texts to organise social events with friends and family. The use of emails / texts for organisation might become a greater part of their lives in future, as they start to take on more responsibility for organising social events for themselves.
In comparison, young people were very much involved in going out with their friends and organising social activities via emails / texts. In the following discussion a mother talks about the planning of lifts organised by her teenage daughters via email.
Mother: We just leave that to the girls; they just sort it out. They will say whose parent is picking them up. Natalie will say you’re dropping us down, and so and so's parent is picking us up[Ypfgp 1, 14 - 16 years].
Young people were happy to organise their own social lives and thus take on more responsibility, which Ling (2004) also found. In comparison children's organisation behaviours were just starting to develop, facilitated by the mobile and internet.
Before children could start to organise their own freedoms, parents needed to feel that they could be trusted. In the subtheme metaphorical leash an example
was presented where one mother felt that she had difficulty trusting her son Greig, as he failed to follow her instructions (section 6.2). In comparison, parents who trusted their children knew that they would behave appropriately and follow their instructions. An example is presented here where parents felt they could trust their daughter. Tee, a 10 year old, talks about the extra freedom she has been given since having her mobile phone. She was organising getting herself to and from dance classes. I: How have you felt, being able to have that
extra freedom? Tee: Feel grown up [Int: 9, 10 years]. Children really appreciated
being trusted with their freedom. Charlton et al. (2002)havealsotalked about how important children felt freedom was to them, supported by the mobile phone.
Other participating children too were keen to demonstrate that they could be trusted with their freedom. However, their mothers were not so keen. Different factors seemed to get in the way, as evidenced in the following focus group.
Mother: Andy keeps saying to me at the moment that I don’t trust him. I say to him, Andy it is not that I don’t trust you, it is other people. Because he wants to bike to school, but he has to go under the bridge by the bypass [Parent fgp 2].
Andy's mother was concerned about Andy travelling alone to school by bike. She did trust him to follow her instructions but it was other people and aspects of the journey that concerned her. For parents to really begin to trust children with their freedom there are many different factors that have to be considered; trusting their own child is simply one of them. Safety within the local community is an important priority too.
If children demonstrated that they could be trusted with their freedom, and the community was safe, it could be to their advantage. Continued and extended freedoms might be given. As earlier demonstrated in the previous subtheme (6.2), David had just been given his mobile phone, which enabled him to cycle in the village. If he coped well with his new found freedom, this would be further extended. He was starting to use the mobile phone as his parents expected; to