Other people’s children: inclusive parenting in a diversified neighbourhood in Norway

This article explores how parents include other people’s children in intensive parenting practices. Increased diversification of Norwegian society calls attention to opportunities for social mobility and the risk of greater inequality. However, insufficient research has been carried out into how parents pursue parenting in such a context. How are parenting practices informed by increased diversity? Why and how do parents become engaged with other people’s children? This study explores the concept of intensive parenting, which researchers view as commonplace among Western middle-class parents, and which leads to individualizing parenting. It argues that for some, intensive parenting also incorporates inclusive parenting – a responsibility not only towards their own child, but a concern for and time investment in other people’s children. This parenting style is linked to a desire to create a more egalitarian society, and a belief that a child’s upbringing and future depends upon the wellbeing of other people’s children.