Parental control and discipline
n Parents represent important figures of authority and control for their children. Key aspects of
this role were perceived as involving the monitoring and checking of children’s activities and
whereabouts, enforcing limits and boundaries, and disciplining children.
n A key message to emerge was that rules were necessary in order to protect children from harm
and to promote their well-being. Parental rules and regulations relating to social conventions
(such as being polite), morality and ‘being a good person’, school and academic work, and
avoidance of risk and safety issues were highlighted in children’s narratives.
n Parental monitoring of children’s behaviour and whereabouts was facilitated largely through
talking, asking questions and via mobile phones. Parents were also perceived as ‘all-knowing’
and attentive to familiar and unfamiliar patterns of behaviour. Children’s narratives emphasised
the importance of trust and negotiation in parent–child relationships with regard to supporting
more effective parental monitoring of older children’s behaviour.
n Older children emphasised the need for parents to negotiate rules and regulations with their
adolescents, rather than imposing restrictions upon them as might be done with younger
children.