Introduction

This chapter examines the meanings of mothering from the perspective of mothers whose identities have been transformed in response to life challenges associated with the parenting of young children, who were of primary-school age at the time of the interviews. The mothers’ closeness to their young children during their early formative years, which is particularly important while children are moving from family to school environments, creates a special bond between mothers and their children, and it is a period during which mothers’ identities are ‘co-shared’ with the identities of their children (Furedi, 2008; Lee et al, 2014; Nurse, 2020). The chapter focuses on two ‘older mothers’ (in their early 40s at the time of the study), with biographical reflection on their identities, parenting and child's development. The narratives are analysed from the perspective of the meaning of mothering of young children, the mothers’ perceptions of their identities and parenting and the impact of their own childhood experiences on their mothering styles. It also contributes to understanding of the structuring (construction) of mothers’ identities.

Biographical methods have long been used in education and human development studies to understand individual accounts of the life experience of individuals within the family and education system (Roberts, 2002; Wright, 2011; Waller, 2010). However they are also relevant and important in biographical studies of individuals who create the environment in which children grow up – mothers, fathers, carers (Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, 1994; Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006). Low income and the socio-economic status of the native-born population (without an immigrant background) may be as ‘disadvantaged’ as those of families with an immigrant and ethnicminority background, which is one of the crucial points in our study; however, a comparative perspective is often overlooked in such research. The perception of mothering by a self-employed middle-class native-born English mother and a second-generation immigrant mother of Afro– Caribbean heritage, who both live in one of the disadvantaged areas of Greater London, is the prime focus of this chapter. Application of the biographical method to interviews enabled the author to gain insight into mothers’ self-reflection on the meaning of mothering in relation to intensive parenting. The chapter also reflects on the challenges and opportunities when interpreting biographical data on the meaning of mothering in relation to intensive mothering.