Play with a purpose: Intensive parenting, educational desires and shifting notions of childhood and learning in twenty-first century Singapore

This study examines how parents in Singapore approach early childhood learning and play in the context of national educational reforms. Through ethnographic research, it explores how parents balance expectations to develop creative and problem-solving skills in their children. The research reveals that parents' anxieties about their children's futures are connected to broader national concerns about economic competitiveness and survival, shaping their parenting practices around concepts like brain development, resilience, and exposure to natural learning.

Key points

• Parents negotiate complex expectations related to reforms aiming to raise creative and problem-solving children
• Ideas of brain-claiming, resilience, and natural exposure shape parenting practices around young children's learning
• Parents experience uncertainty and guilt about their children's future
• National survival narratives are reproduced through expectations around 21st century skills
• Study based on ethnographic fieldwork examining parenting practices in Singapore

Limitations

The study does not measure outcomes for children's actual development or learning achievements. It focuses on parental perceptions and practices rather than evaluating the effectiveness of specific interventions on child well-being.