CHFS 1006 – Introduction to Child and Family Studies

Course Outline (WINTER 2022)

Professor: Renée Valiquette Lectures: Posted 1 week in advance

E-mail: reneev@nipissingu.ca Office Hours: By Appointment

Course Description
This course provides an introduction to child and family studies. We begin with an
examination of the importance and foundational nature of critical thinking in education,
emphasizing in particular the central place of critique and evaluation within the field of
child and family studies. We briefly discuss the origins and evolution of a
multidisciplinary approach to studying children and families, and continue on to give
students an introduction to scholarly discussion and debate within the field, as well as an
appreciation for the range of issues and topics studied. Lectures, case studies, debates,
readings, and assignments are designed to develop critical thinking abilities and
analytical skills, as well as enhance research and writing abilities.

Reading Material will be provided via Blackboard, and when possible, emailed to
students directly.

LECTURE FORMAT

So, here’s the plan. You will get a video lecture from me each week. I will try very hard
to have lectures posted a week early so that you have a week to watch them before there
is an opportunity to meet on Zoom with me and others to discuss. These videos will be
around 1-1.5 hours in length and will be uploaded to Blackboard along with a copy of the
powerpoint that I use in the lecture. Once a week (likely on Wednesdays – see my emails
for more details), I will hold an optional Zoom session for 1 hour.

ASSIGNMENTS

At Home Tests (25% x 25% = 50%)

Students will complete 2 short answers, multiple choice, matching tests on Blackboard
over the course of the term. These tests are designed to give students feedback on their
basic understanding of the course material. You will have several days to complete the
tests. There is NO FINAL EXAM for this course.
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TEST #1: DUE Monday, February 28th

TEST #2: DUE Friday, April 1st

Lecture Questions: 25% (Round 1) x 25% (Round 2) = 50%

Twice over the course of the term I will distribute a set of short answer questions.
Students will have a minimum of 1 week to complete and submit their answers. Answers
will be submitted to Blackboard in a WORD or PDF document. These questions will ask
students to demonstrate 1) their comprehension of the main course ideas, 2) their capacity
to make connections between lectures, and 3) their capacity to express themselves
academically in writing. Each set of questions will be worth 25% of the overall final
grade.

Lecture Questions #1 - DUE DATE 1: Friday, February 18th

Lecture Questions # 2- DUE DATE 2: Friday, April 8th

Regulations
Please note that written work from students must be original in conception, content,
organization, and phrasing. The borrowing of material from other sources, whether in the
form of direct quotation or paraphrasing, must be acknowledged. Direct quotations must
be identified with quotation marks and be footnoted. When you follow someone else’s
ideas closely or when you use specific information from a primary source or a secondary
source, the source must be footnoted.

Plagiarism involves submitting or presenting work as one’s own when it is not, or

submitting work completed for another class.

For a full overview of plagarism, consult the Nipissing calendar or you may access the
information at: http://www.nipissingu.ca/calendar/regulations/academic/Pages/Student-
Appeals-and- Petitions.aspx
It is the responsibility of each student to familiarize themselves with policies of
Academic Integrity.

Statement on Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Privacy

All materials developed for this course, including, but not limited to, lectures, lecture
notes and slides, assignments, examinations and syllabi, that are provided in class or
online, are the intellectual property of the course instructor. Recording lectures in any
way is prohibited unless the instructor has granted express written consent. Posting,
providing, sharing or selling unauthorized audio, video, or textual material violates an
instructor’s intellectual property rights, the Canadian Copyright Act, and may violate the
rights and privacy of others in the classroom. Failure to follow these instructions is in
contravention of the university’s Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
Participation in this course constitutes an agreement by all parties to respect the
intellectual property and privacy of others during and after their association with
Nipissing University.
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THE PLAN: Topics +What to Read, Watch and Listen to

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WEEK 1 (January 10-14) Introduction

My approach to learning:
- Learning what to think vs learning how think
- The more meaningful ideas are the more excited we are about them = start from where
you are.
- Lifelong learning

"Children" and "the Family" as sites of intense emotion, politics, contest, strongly held
beliefs about society in general and what is moral/immoral.

Child and family studies is about our lives. It’s personal!

Creating healthy and just societies from the family up. No better investment than families
for the success of the society.

The structure of the class: from babies to an old married couple!

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WEEK 2 (January 17-21): Childhood as an Idea with a History

Big idea: Childhood as a historical and cultural concept, childhood as a social and
political concept

READ: Peter Stearns (2006) "Ch. 6: Forces of Change and the Modern Model of
Childhood." Childhood in World History. [Blackboard]

READ: A. Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez, “Why won’t society let Black girls be

children?” Nytimes.com [Blackboard]

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WEEK 3 (January 24-28): Baby Genius

Big ideas: 100% Nurture and 100% Nature!

- What could you do at 5 that you can’t do anymore
- Challenging the progressive model |

WATCH: “Fantastic Baby,” The Beginning of Life (Netflix) + “Nature and Nurture,”
Babies (Netflix) – treat these screenings like you would readings; take notes 
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WEEK 4 (January 31-February 4): The New Childhood

Big Ideas: more on child as blank slate, empty, untamed and in need of educating
- Unschooling
- Free range kids
- Childhood as an ideological site
- Physically and emotionally “free range”
- Is the job of adults is to turn children into adults

READ: Stephan Marche, “We need to stop worrying and just let our kids play”
Macleans.ca
https://www.macleans.ca/society/we-need-to-stop-worrying-and-just-let-our-kids-play/

Recommended:

WATCH: “5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do: Gever Tulley at
TEDxMidwest” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXhddUqNNjo&vl=ja

LISTEN: Armchair Expert: Dax Shephard and Monica Padman interview Lenore
Skenazy: https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/lenore-skenazy

READ: Jayme Poisson. "Parents keep child's gender secret." thestar.com. May 21, 2011.
https://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2011/05/21/parents_keep_childs_gender_secret.html

WATCH (I will watch this in the lecture): Dylan Moran about children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd3i71_t-Rg

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WEEK 5 (February 7-11): To Screen or Not to Screen…is not the question!

Big ideas: Childhood in the technological age

- Bursting the bubble
- Adultification and infantilization: exposed to adult world while maintaining a
paradigm of protection = poor support for rising anxieties

READ: Nellie Bowles, “Coronavirus ended the screen time debate. Screens won.”
Nytimes. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/technology/coronavirus-screen-time.html

READ: Dafna Lemish (2008). "Chapter 9: The Mediated Playground: Media in Early
Childhood." The International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. Kirsten
Drotner and Sonia Livingstone, eds. [Blackboard]

Recommended:

WATCH: Sara DeWitt, "3 Fears about Screen Time for kids -- and why they're not true"
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https://www.ted.com/talks/
sara_dewitt_3_fears_about_screen_time_for_kids_and_why_they_re_not_true

WATCH: James Bridle, "The Nightmare videos of Children's Youtube -- and what's
wrong with the internet today"
https://www.ted.com/talks/
james_bridle_the_nightmare_videos_of_childrens_youtube_and_what_s_wrong_with_th
e_internet_today

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WEEK 6 (February 14-18): The Agony and the Ecstasy of Adolescence

READ: Robert Sapolsky, “Dude, Where’s My Frontal Cortex?”

https://nautil.us/issue/15/turbulence/dude-wheres-my-frontal-cortex

READ: Decca Aitkenhead, “Teens get a bad rap: the neuroscientist championing moody
adolescents”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/17/teens-get-a-bad-rap-the-
neuroscientist-championing-moody-adolescents +

Recommended:
LISTEN: Henry Giroux, “Disposable Youth” CBC Radio
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/disposable-youth-henry-giroux-1.3037469

WATCH: Laurence Steinberg, “Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of
Adolescence.” https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/video/age-of-opportunity-
lessons-from-the-new-science-of-adolescence/

Lecture Questions #1 DUE by Friday, February 18th

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WEEK 7 (February 21-25): READING WEEK

*No classes

TEST #1: DUE Monday, February 28th

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WEEK 8 (February 28-March 4): Youth in Revolt

READ: Terrance Hall. "The Art of Youth Resistance and Inspiration: Nishiyuu Journey
Across Snowy Canada." June 2013.
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/art-youth-
resistance-and-inspiration-nishiyuu-journey
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READ: Shannen’s Dream

http://rabble.ca/toolkit/rabblepedia/shannens-dream

READ: Umair Irfan, “One of the largest environmental protests ever is underway. It’s
led by children.” https://www.vox.com/2019/5/24/18637552/youth-climate-strike-greta-
thunberg

READ: Kate Harloe, “Kids Have Always Led the Way for Progress. The Push for Gun
Control Is No Different”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/kids-have-alway-fought-our-hardest-
battles-gun-rights-are-no-different/

WATCH: Alanis Obomsawin, Hi-Ho Mistahey! (2013) – accessed through Nipissing

Library (instructions forthcoming)

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WEEK 9 (March 7-11): The 21st Century Family

Big ideas: time to start a family!

- Family life in the 21st century in Canada
- Changing family structures
- Better at getting out of bad relationships; good at cultivating/
keeping good ones?

READ: Harder, L. (2011). "After the Nuclear Age? Some Contemporary Developments
in Families and Family Law in Canada." The Vanier Institute of the Family.
(BLACKBOARD)

READ: Galt, V. (2012). "The changing face of the Canadian family." University Affairs
Magazine. Dec 5, 2012. https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-
changing-face-of-the-canadian-family/

READ: “Stay-at-Home Dads Are Reshaping American Masculinity”

The Atlantic Magazine.

LOOK at these pictures:

http://www.johanbavman.se/swedish-dads/ +
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/12/22/arts/images-swedish-stay-home-dads-
spark-conversations-masculinity/#.XW_b2nt7nBI

Further reading (not required):

Susan Golombok, We Are Family: The Modern Transformation of Parents and Children

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WEEK 10 (March 14-18): The 21st Century Family, part 2
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Big ideas: “family values”: who counts and who doesn’t, and why?
- The new egalitarian family
- Divorce from the kids’ perspective

READ: David Brooks, “The Nuclear Family was a Mistake” The Atlantic Magazine.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-nuclear-family-was-a-
mistake/605536/

READ: Jane Ward, “The white supremacist origins of modern marriage advice.”
The Conversation.com
https://theconversation.com/the-white-supremacist-origins-of-modern-marriage-advice-
144782

LISTEN: “Decolonizing Sex.” All My Relations Podcast. Matika Wilbur and Adrienne
Keene.
https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/468a0a6b/ep-5-decolonizing-sex

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WEEK 11 (March 21-25): Happily Ever After?

Big ideas: creating relations outside Western-colonial constructs

- How our social, political, economic environment shapes our approach to love

WATCH: Alain de Botton, “Why you will marry the wrong person.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EvvPZFdjyk

READ: Esther Perel. "Why Happy People Cheat: A good marriage is no guarantee
against infidelity." The Atlantic. October 2017.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/why-happy-people-cheat/537882/

LISTEN: Esther Perel, Where Should We Begin?

Season 4, Episode 6: “When I’m manic I cheat”
https://whereshouldwebegin.estherperel.com/episodes/s4-episode6 +
Season 3, Episode 6: “Happily Divorced”
https://whereshouldwebegin.estherperel.com/episodes/s3-episode-6-happily-divorced

Additional resources (not required):

READ: Olga Khazan, “We expect too much from our romantic partners.” The
Atlantic.com https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/09/we-expect-way-too-
much-from-our-romantic-partners/541353/

READ: Maria Popova, ‘The Difficult Art of Giving Space in Love: Rilke on Freedom,
Togetherness, and the Secret to a Good Marriage”
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/09/03/rilke-love-marriage/
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WATCH: Kim Tallbear, “Beyond Settler Sex and Family.” History and Theory of New
Media Lecture Series. October 25, 2021. HTNM/Indigenous Tech: Kim TallBear &
Marcelo Garzo Montalvo in Conversation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGb2ljHxAOQ

READ: Christine Gross-Loh, “The First Lesson of Marriage 101: There Are No Soul
Mates.” The Atlantic Magazine. February 12, 2014.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/the-first-lesson-of-marriage-101-
there-are-no-soul-mates/283712/

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WEEK 12 (March 28-April 1st): Children of the Future

Big Ideas: Upside down world, a brave new future

READ: Yuval Noah Harari, “Yuval Noah Harari on what the year 2050 has in store for
humankind.” Wired Magazine.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/yuval-noah-harari-extract-21-lessons-for-the-21st-
century

READ: Patrick Barkham, “Interview: Naomi Klein: ‘We shouldn’t be surprised that kids
are radicalised’” The Guardian. March 9, 2021.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/09/naomi-klein-we-shouldnt-be-surprised-
that-kids-are-radicalised-how-to-change-everything

TEST #2: DUE Friday, April 1st

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WEEK 13 (April 4-8): REVIEW

Lecture Questions # 2: DUE Friday, April 8th