Under perioden 1840-1930 blev Allmänna Barnhuset en central plats för utvecklingen av den svenska pediatriken, det vill säga kunskapen om medicinsk vård och behandling av sjuka barn. Detta kapitel beskriver hur denna utveckling också omfattade en ny syn på barn och en förändrad inställning till samhälleliga insatser på barnområdet.

Under perioden 1840-1930 blev Allmänna Barnhuset en central plats för utvecklingen av den svenska pediatriken, det vill säga kunskapen om medicinsk vård och behandling av sjuka barn. Detta kapitel beskriver hur denna utveckling också omfattade en ny syn på barn och en förändrad inställning till samhälleliga insatser på barnområdet.

In many societal contexts, the importance of listening to children is underscored, not seldom with reference to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and especially Article 12 on the right to be heard. But what does it mean to listen to children? A plethora of books on listening to children aimed at professionals and others who meet children in their daily lives are published on a regular basis. However, we miss a critical discussion of listening as such, and more specifically about (good) listening to children, framed within a larger theoretical context. The aim of this article is to discuss listening in relation to monological and dialogical perspectives on communication, as well as in relation to different notions of children as similar to or different from adults. Also discussed is how different theoretical perspectives on listening and listening to children tends to lead to different ethical conclusions regarded what constitutes good listening and listening to children.

This article draws on interviews with parents of children aged 7–12 years with so called neuropsychiatric disabilities (NPF) and demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the leisure time of the children and their families. By focusing on the exceptional circumstances of this period, it also highlights and raises questions about the broader conditions related to leisure. The pandemic brings the challenges faced by these families into sharp focus and reveals an intriguing paradox: On the one hand, they are more dependent than others on maintaining support, while on the other hand, they are less reliant on publicly organized leisure activities. The study indicates that this is linked to how children with NPF and their needs are addressed under normal circumstances, where ableist norms impose limits on the activities of the children and their families. The results emphasize how this leads to children becoming reliant on parental presence, thereby reducing their ability to engage in society on their own terms. However, this situation can be mitigated through knowledge, understanding, and support.

Den här artikeln bygger på intervjuer med föräldrar till barn i åldern 7–12 år med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar (NPF) och visar hur covid-19-pandemin påverkade fritiden för barnen och deras familjer. Genom ett fokus på de exceptionella förhållanden som rådde under denna period belyser och problematiserar den också fritidens villkor mer generellt. Pandemin sätter de utmaningar familjerna möter i blixtbelysning och åskådliggör en intressant paradox: å ena sidan är de mer beroende än andra av att stöd kan upprätthållas, å andra sidan är de mindre beroende av att offentligt organiserad fritid fungerar. Studien visar att detta hänger samman med hur barn med NPF och deras behov möts under normala omständigheter, då funktionsnormativa (eng. ableist) förväntningar ifråga om socialt samspel, ordning och anpassning sätter gränser för barnens och familjernas aktiviteter. Resultaten pekar på hur det gör barnen beroende av föräldrars närvaro och minskar deras möjligheter att delta i samhället på sina egna villkor, något som kan motverkas genom kunskap, förståelse och stöd.

I många samhälleliga sammanhang återkommer en uppmaning att lyssna på barn, inte sällan med hänvisning till FN:s barnkonvention och kanske särskilt artikel 12 om rätten att bli hörd. Men vad innebär det att lyssna på barn? Mängder av böcker om lyssnande till barn som riktar sig till yrkespraktiker och andra som möter barn i sitt vardagsliv publiceras kontinuerligt. Vi saknar emellertid en kritisk diskussion som sätter frågor om lyssnande, lyssnande på barn och det goda lyssnandet i en större teoretisk kontext. Mot den bakgrunden har föreliggande artikel tillkommit. Lyssnandets problematik diskuteras här primärt i relation till monologiska och dialogiska perspektiv på kommunikation samt i relation till olika synsätt på barn (barnsyn) som lika eller olika vuxna. Avslutningsvis pekar vi på etiska implikationer som följer i kölvattnet av olika teoretiska perspektiv på lyssnande och lyssnande på barn.

In many societal contexts, the importance of listening to children is underscored, not seldom with reference to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and especially Article 12 on the right to be heard. But what does it mean to listen to children? A plethora of books on listening to children aimed at professionals and others who meet children in their daily lives are published on a regular basis. However, we miss a critical discussion of listening as such, and more specifically about (good) listening to children, in relation to a larger theoretical context. The aim of this article is to discuss listening in relation to monological and dialogical perspectives on communication, as well as in relation to different notions of children as same or different from adults. Ethical implications following in the wake of different theoretical perspectives on listening and listening to children are also discussed.

In the last decade, poor mental health among children and young people has been a recurrent topic of discussion in Swedish media. These discus­sions have predominately been characterized by both a dystopic tone and a presentism that, combined, has led to a framing of the situation as worse than ever and in need of immediate solutions. Based on an analysis of articles in Swedish daily newspapers from 1968 to 2008, we show in this article that alarming articles on the mental health of Swedish children and young people have, in fact, appeared frequently throughout these four decades and that these articles, regardless of year of publication, presented similar statistics over how many children and young people suffered from poor mental health. Alarms and concerns about the poor mental health of children and young people thus have a longer history than what is often claimed by contemporary actors. Nevertheless, we could also discern several important shifts over the years. In the early decades, the discussions revolved around the concepts of psychological disorders and psychological problems, while poor mental health became central during the latter part of the time period. However, more specific psychological and psychiatric terms, such as anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms, were more stable and did not really change to any significant extent over the years. Moreover, the set of actors involved in the discussion expanded and diversified over time, with civil society organizations in particular taking a more prominent place. To conclude, we argue that the consensus and consistency among the actors over time may be due to how the issue was framed in quantitative, descriptive and epide­miological terms, as this avoided any theoretically charged debates over the etiology and categorization of disorders, a question that has otherwise had a quite turbulent history in child psychiatry and psychology and which has divided experts and professionals. The discussions have also offered certain self-understandings to the public, including a normalizing conception of poor mental health presenting such problems as a transient condition that could possibly afflict any child or young person.