The Expansive Geographies of Childhood

In the 21st century, the construct of childhood continues to evolve. As interdisciplinary

research continues to dive into the complexities of childhood, society learns more about the ways

to best support children. While we learn more about children, the world around us is changing.

Technology and transportation are advancing at unprecedented rates and globalisation has

connected the world more than ever. Children are innately impacted by their environment. As

societies around the world become more and more connected, so too do the environments of

children. Robert Bronfenbrenner describes the environments children experience in four

categories: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem and Macrosystem (Oswalt 2016). Global

development and expansion means the environments of children are changing and these ever

expanding environments have more influence on the lives and development of children than ever

before.

Microsystem

“Every child needs at least one adult who is irrationally crazy about him or her”

(Bronfenbrenner, 1991). Every child directly experiences thousands of components from the

world around them. Angela Oswalt (2016) summarizes Bronfenbrenner’s notion of the

Microsystem as the immediate system that the child lives in. These spaces are experienced

directly and on a regular basis by the child. According to Brendtro (2006), Bronfenbrenner felt

that the most progress in the improvement of the lives of children can happen in this sphere of

influence. Bronfenbrenner’s Microsystem includes a symbiotic relationship between the child

and the people and spaces they experience on a regular basis. In their family for example, the

child is directly impacted by the presence of caretakers and the caretakers are also directly

influenced by the presence of the child. This dually impacting quality is a defining characteristicTHE EXPANSIVE GEOGRAPHIES OF CHILDHOOD 5

of a child’s Microsystem. Interventions in this sphere of influence have a massive opportunity to

immediately improve the quality of living for children.

Family

The most immediate component of a child’s microsystem is their family. The structure of

a child’s family has a powerful influence over the success (or failure) of the child to develop

appropriately throughout their early years. Rathus (2014) explains that families have a powerful

role in the development of children through Middle Childhood. Parents act as a beacon of light

for children beginning at birth. This attachment decreases through Middle Childhood and a

child’s attachment to their family is slowly replaced by the child’s association with peers. This

means that during a child’s most crucial developmental years, the family is responsible for the

child’s developmental success. The family’s likelihood to succeed in this task is impacted most

by the family’s structure and the family’s social class.

In the 21st century, family structure research is all but forced to examine the impact of

divorce on the life of a child. In examining the research in the field, Rathus (2014) identified a

few key components in the ways children are affected by a divorce. First, childhood becomes

less automated. The construct of childhood in The United States is designed to be supplemented

by a two parent household. When this structure is broken, so is the automation of many

components of childhood. Second, in nearly every example of divorce the parents are financially

supporting two households instead of one. This increases the financial strain on the family and

negatively impacts the development of the child. Finally, children from divorced households are

more likely to experience decreased quality of parenting. When compared to a two parent

household, children from divorced households struggle with process of childhood, experience

more financial stress, and are often required to settle for reduced quality parenting (Rathus

2014).

Children living in low-income households experience more barriers to development than

their higher class peers. In infancy, a child from a lower class family is more likely to experience

malnutrition which is a detriment to the development of neurons in the brain. In early childhood,

children from low income households are less likely to start academic education at the same age

as the higher class peers. Finally, girls from low-income households are more likely to become

pregnant in their teenage years. This means that their children will likely be brought up in a low-

income household as well. Living in a low-income household means that a child is more likely to

be malnourished, behind their peers academically, and more inclined to perpetuate the cycle with

teen pregnancies (Rathus 2014).

Education

From the time that a child enters kindergarten until the time that child graduates from

high school, they will spend more of their waking hours in education than in any other

environment. The geography of a child’s education contributes to their success navigating their

microsystem. This geography is composed of the student’s relationship to their physical and

human geographies (Gollnick 2013).

It is not difficult to see the ways that they physical geography of a child’s education

impacts the child. For example, a student’s attendance is impacted by their location in The

United States. Children living in rural or mountainous regions (such as Appalachia) demonstrate

lower attendance that children living in other regions in The United States. In addition, the

diversity of an education system is determined by its physical geography. Students in New

England will attend more diverse schools than students in the mid-west. Beyond regional

differences, students living in various community styles will experience differences in their

education. Students receiving their education in a rural community may receive more one-on-one

time with their teacher but their teacher is less likely to have the resources needed to support the

child. On the other hand, children attending urban schools will experience increased diversity in

the classroom but many urban schools do not have the funds to support the education of a child.

Human geography works in tandem with physical geography to outline the geographic

composition of the child’s microsystem. The opportunity for travel in the 21st century is

unprecedented. This means that children are connecting face to face with people of different

cultures unlike they have at any point in history. The cultural makeup of education today is

diverse. Families are increasingly able to migrate today than ever before. This means that the

human geography behind a student’s education is consistently changing. Now classrooms must

be designed to accommodate for this diversity in human geography (Gollnick 2013).

Access to Free Play

In addition to their family and their education, children directly interact with spaces that

permit them to play. Play is not only an effective way to support physical, emotional, social, and

cognitive development, but also the venue by which children can most successfully

communicate. By that note, a child’s access to play has a direct impact on the way the child

develops. Rae Picca (2015) discusses the importance of play in the lives of children. She

explains that play through childhood constructs adult personalities. Play provides children with

the opportunity to solve problems, develop social skills, cooperate with peers and much more.

These skills support children through their development in beyond. Pica (2015) goes on to

discuss the connection between play deprivation and hostility and depression. A child’s access to

play directly impacts the child’s ability to develop appropriately.

Bronfenbrenner’s microsystem is characterized by the spaces a child interacts with and

the people with which the child has an immediate relationship. This sphere of influence is reliant

upon the child’s family, education, and access to opportunities to play. The structure and social

class of a child’s family influences the likelihood of the child’s access to developmental success.

In addition, the physical and human geography of the child’s education impacts the child’s access

to academic success. Finally, a child’s opportunity to play impacts the child’s access to holistic

success. Influence in these three components of a child’s microsystem offers the highest return

on investment in improving the lives of children.

Mesosystem

Bronfenbrenner’s second sphere of influence, the Mesosystem, is revolutionary as it

outlines the complexities in the relationships between children and their environment. While the

microsystem is the most intimate sphere of influence in a child’s life, the mesosystem explains

the ways in which the components of a child’s microsystem are related. Brendtro (2006) explains

that Bronfenbrenner believed without a healthy ecology in a child’s mesosystem it is unlikely

that the child will succeed. This means that if the child is experiencing insecure family bonds,

conflicting with teachers, and engaging in antisocial activities the child will not thrive.

Parent engagement in education

One powerful relationship that lives in the mesosystem is the relationship between

parents and the child’s school. Parent engagement in a child’s education has significant

opportunity to positively correlate with academic achievement. That being said, for families

living in lower socioeconomic statuses, access to high quality parent engagement is often

restricted. Successful parental engagement is attributed to an interlocked system of support

composed of self-efficacy with regard to engagement, increased presence of school-related

resources, high quality homework structure, and authentic high-quality school outreach. Reduced

socioeconomic status often provides barriers to each of these components of successful parental

engagement. If successful, parental engagement can correlate positively with increased academic

achievement and reduced behavior problems in school (Park Halloway 2013).

Exosystem

Bronfenbrenner’s third sphere of influence is the Exosystem. In relation to the previous

two spheres, a child’s relationship to this sphere is less intimate. Oswalt (2016) describes this

sphere as the sphere of indirect relationships. In other words, this sphere is composed of the

influencers in a child’s life that the child does not have direct contact with. For Bronfenbrenner,

this sphere continues to have influence over the child even with its seemingly weaker

relationship to the child.

Modernity and the City Structure

The structure of a city does directly impact the life of a child but for a city to exist in a

child’s microsphere, the relationship would have to be symbiotic. In other words, the child would

have to have the power to influence the city. Instead, the modern city lies in the child’s

exosphere because the child is one person removed from the relationship. As a result of

modernity, children have been removed from the streets of urban neighborhoods and the parks of

inner cities and have been placed in the backyards of homes in suburbs.

Child Friendly Cities

Around the world, nations are accepting children as a part of their cities and are

redefining the ways that cities can better support children. In 1996, during the Second United

Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II), the international gathering began

discussing the idea of Child Friendly Cities (CFCs). The notion included four basic concepts:

“(1) fair treatment of every child, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, socioeconomic

background etc.; (2) top priority of the best interests of the child; (3) the child’s right to a better

life and development; and (4) respect of children’s views.” (Nour 489). The collective then used

these four components to discuss the future of CFCs. The collection then outlined nine steps to

creating a CFC, the first of which is Fostering children’s participation. In Sana’a, Yemen a

council of children was elected as a Children’s Parliament for three terms. Children were elected

to this council in their schools. The council spent its first term focusing on environmental,

cultural, and sports issues that affect youth (Nour 2013). While it may seem impossible in the

United States to incorporate the voice of children, other less developed nations are doing so

successfully and are seeing positive outcomes as a result.

Economic Inequalities

Children experience microsystem diversity in their classrooms and in their communities,

but when this diversity penetrates the Exosystem, it often leads to inequalities that indirectly

influence the lives of children. One of the most defining characteristics of a family’s ability to

support their child through their development is social class. Advances in technology are

rendering blue collar jobs obsolete at an unprecedented pace. The class of people most impacted

by this advancement is the poor. Aulette (2010) correlates high unemployment with low

marriage frequency, especially in African American men. This shows that a child’s family

structure is directly impacted by the opportunities their parents have and these opportunities are

responsible for the quality of life that family experiences.

It is more difficult to influence the lives of children via the child’s Exosphere. However,

Bronfenbrenner’s third sphere does carry weight in the lives of children. The evolution of the

city through modernity was propelled by adults but removed children from the city center. The

work of HABITAT II describes the ways in which cities impact children by designing Child

Friendly Cities. Finally, the economic inequalities that exist within a child’s exosphere impact

their opportunities to succeed. The level to which a child’s Exosystem supports them further

determines the child’s likelihood to succeed.

Macrosystem

Bronfenbrenner’s final sphere of influence in the lives of children is the Macrosystem.

Oswalt (2016) describes this sphere of influence as remote and far removed. Bronfenbrenner

viewed this sphere of influence as mostly abstract in the lives of children when compared to the

previous three spheres. It is easy to see the way a child’s education directly impacts their

development, but it is hard to see the way the entrepreneurial lifestyle of a family in South Africa

impacts a child living in London. Until recently, the concrete nature of Bronfenbrenner’s

Macrosystem has been unexplored.

Scalar Approach

In children’s geographies, the scalar approach is used to analyze one component of a

child’s life through multiple spheres of influence. With this approach, a researcher could look at

the concept of work in a child’s home and compare that concept to the concept of work in the

child’s community, nation, or world. The concept of scalar analysis means finding an issue and

comparing the issue on multiple levels as you “zoom out” from the child’s microsystem. This

concept promotes the notion that children’s lives are no longer simply local lives. Instead, they

are in fact influenced by the entire world. Furthermore, this approach stretches the abstract nature

of the Macrosystem and pinpoints the ways that a child’s relationship to the Macrosystem is

concrete. In addition, the Scalar Approach promotes the idea that global decisions impact

children as much as local decisions even though children may be more intimately related with

local decisions (Ansell 2008).

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

The UNCRC was adopted by the United Nations in 1989 and acts as a textbook

representation of the relationship between a child and the child’s Macrosystem. This document,

produced by delegates from nations around the world, recommends the rights all states should

strive to offer their children. The UNCRC continues to struggle with international

implementation and an examination by Harcourt and Haggland (2013) suggests that turning the

UNCRC upside-down could remedy the problem. In other words, the researchers feel that

integrating the voices of children in the development of the rights would produce better results

(Harcourt and Haggland 2013). Taking a scalar approach to the rights of children would provide

a more successful path towards implementation.

Heuristic Development

A child’s physical, cognitive, and social and emotional development is shaped by the

world around them. The scalar approach to children’s geographies suggests that the

Macrosystem has no less of an influence on the life of a child than the Microsystem. A child’s

development is as impacted by global policy decisions as it is by decisions made around the

dinner table. To improve the development of children around the world, especially those living in

poverty, it is necessary to understand the complexity in the ways that their lives are influenced

by their geography.

Physical Development

A child’s physical development is influenced at the microsystem level when a family

cannot afford proper nourishment. The same child’s physical development is impacted in the

mesosystem when the afterschool program at their school sends a backpack of food home for the

weekend. In the Exosystem, the child’s physical development is impacted when the mother is

promoted to a nine to five job that allows her to take her son to soccer practice. Finally, in the

Macrosystem the child’s physical development is impacted by the number of natural places

provided for the child that offer them the opportunity to play freely (Ferguson et al 2013)

Cognitive Development

At the Microsystem level, the quality and location of a child’s school has the largest

impact on their cognitive development. In the mesosystem, a child’s cognitive development is

impacted by the quantity and quality of the parent’s engagement in the child’s education.

Moving outwards into the Exosystem, a child’s cognitive Development is influenced when a

parent receives a significant pay increase that allows them to send their child to an academic-

focused preschool. For a child living in Torreón Mexico, where Arsenic in the drinking water is

reducing several measures of cognitive and language development, their cognitive development

is impacted within their Macrosystem by the laws that govern the quality of their drinking water

(Ferguson et al 2013).

Social and Emotional Development

For the majority of children living south of the equator, crowded homes lead to a

reduction in the quality of relationships with caretakers. This, in tandem with crowded

classrooms, demonstrates a Microsystem influence on emotional development (Ferguson et al

2013). A child’s social and emotional development is impacted in their Exosystem when both

parents’ jobs require them to work multiple extra shifts each week. The same child’s

Macrosystem has the power to influence social and emotional development with censors on

digital communication mediums.

Discussion

Bronfenbrenner demonstrated the ways in which children are holistically influenced by

their environments. Further research outlines the ways in which the complexities of their

environments support or inhibit healthy development. For a child to experience holistic

developmental success, they must be supported from their microsystem to their Macrosystem.

Bronfenbrenner was correct when he said “Every child needs at least one adult who is

irrationally crazy about him or her” (Bronfenbrenner, 1991). Even further, the scalar approach to

children’s geography demonstrates that this unconditional support needs to be scaled to the

Mesosystem, the Exosystem, and the Macrosystem. Each sphere of influence has the equal

ability to profoundly change the lives of a child.

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