Peer-reviewed article
More-than-parental care: Exploring the roles of significant others in nurturing young Filipino children
Jhaki A. Mendoza, Gideon Lasco ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines how Filipino families care for children aged 0-4 years, looking beyond just parents to include grandparents, siblings, domestic helpers, daycare teachers, and health workers. The research is based on interviews with 17 Filipino parents and explores how these multiple caregivers shape parenting practices and support children's well-being. The findings challenge the common assumption that parents alone are responsible for early childhood care and show that raising children is a collective, intergenerational process in Filipino culture.
Key points
- Childcare in Filipino families involves multiple caregivers including siblings, grandparents, relatives, domestic helpers (yayas), daycare teachers, and health workers
- Significant others play indispensable roles in shaping parenting practices and ensuring young children's well-being
- Dominant policy and research discourse has incorrectly focused only on parents, ignoring the collective and intergenerational nature of child-rearing
- Sociocultural contexts in the Philippines show growing involvement of diverse caregivers in nurturing young children
- The study challenges institutionalized, parent-centric assumptions in early childhood care and development
Limitations
This study is qualitative research based on 17 interviews, so findings cannot be generalized to all Filipino families or compared quantitatively across groups. The document does not report specific outcome measures for child development or well-being, so we cannot assess whether involving multiple caregivers produces better or worse results for children.
Abstract
Discourse, policy, and research on early childhood care and development have largely focused on parents—their roles, knowledge, and practices. Yet raising a child is inherently collective and intergenerational. Historical and evolving sociocultural contexts highlight the growing involvement of diverse “significant others” in nurturing young children. This study explores the childcare experiences of Filipino parents during their children’s early years, from infancy to preschool (0–4 years old). Drawing from 17 key informant interviews with Filipino parents, the study emphasizes the vital contributions of multiple caregivers—including siblings, grandparents, other relatives, yayas or kasambahays (domestic helpers), and community members such as daycare teachers and health workers—in shaping parenting practices and ensuring young children’s well-being. Using an inductive approach, the analysis interrogates institutionalized, parent-centric assumptions that dominate early childhood care and development discourse. The findings underscore the indispensable roles of these significant others in children’s early development and in everyday parenting practices.