유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니의 ‘놀이’에 대한 개념화

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the conceptualization of play by mothers with young children. In-depth interviews using word associations were conducted to find out the subjective and experiential meaning associated with play. As such the following research questions were set. 1. What is the general conceptualization of 'play' by mothers with young children? 2. What is the conceptualization of 'children's play' by mothers with young children? The subject used in this study includes 30 mothers raising young children in Seoul and Gyeonggi area. The period of study was from April 2019 to October 2019. Data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews using word associations. Data analysis was conducted by coding and categorizing interviews focusing on significant words and mothers' idiomatic expressions. The results of this study are as follows. First, mothers with young children formed a general conceptualization of play from fun, friends, healing, time, and change. Mothers with young children formed a unique meaning based on the mutual dynamic meaning relations of 'play', 'fun', 'friend', 'healing', 'time' and 'change' and their own subjective perspective. First of all, mothers have formed a conceptualization of play from fun; play 'must be fun', and it is not a play 'without fun', and even though it is not fun for others, there are individual differences for fun. Second, mothers formed a conceptualization of play from friend as they regarded play as 'with friends', 'for relationships', as such play without friends seems 'lonely' and play with friends is play. Third, mothers formed a conceptualization of play from healing so it is for 'charge energy' and 'relieve stress', and there are individual differences in 'personal healing'. Fourth, mothers formed a conceptualization of play from time as people cannot play 'without time', and expect to play 'if have time', do not play as planned 'even if they have time', though. Fifth, mothers, centering on changes, conceptualized that the meaning of play changes with 'age', 'era', and 'position', as such it was assumed that the importance of play was higher in early childhood, the interest in play increased in modern society, and it was thought that the mother's position in raising young children would form a multifaceted meaning of play. On the other hand, play was conceptualized as 'invariant value' that play is a means of improving the quality of life with importance and necessity in that it is closely related to human life. Second, mother with young children has been conceptualizing children's play focusing on her homework these days, my work your fun, optimization of play situation, learning not studying, and separate expert. First, in terms of support for play, mothers conceptualized the children's play as the 'mother's homework these days'. Based on the obligation to 'play' and the responsibility to 'do it', mothers in modern society are conceptualizing the meaning as changing their roles for age as their children grow up to 'play well'. Secondly, in terms of young children-centered, mothers were conceptualizing children's play as 'my work your fun'. Mothers think play is very important because it relates to the 'future of their children', but her position was also important in the real world, like 'I am important too'. Thus, mothers conceptualized the meaning of considering 'our different' styles at the same time in children's play situation. Third, mothers conceptualized children's play in the direction of play-centered pursuit of 'optimizing the play situation'. Regarding to this mothers formed meanings based on the role of 'making friends' and 'planning play', and the satisfaction that both mothers and children could feel 'played well'. Fourth, mothers conceptualized children's play as 'learning not studying' in terms of learning support through play. Based on the idea of 'not learning', 'learning from playing', which is conceptualized by mothers, and 'playing and teaching' have different meanings. Fifth, in terms of the curriculum being created, mothers formed a conceptualization around the idiomatic expression 'separate expert' about the cooperative relationship surrounding children's play. On the basis of the lack of communication and cooperation with the officials surrounding the children's play, mothers conceptualized play in young children's education institutions as 'reliable and trusted play' and 'unknown play', and the opinions of young children's education experts as 'their own leagues'. This conceptualization by mothers with young children is not only a universal and typical meaning of play, but also atypical meanings that reflect the characteristics of mothers with young children, vague meanings that arise from relationships with unclear concepts, and changed meanings from time to time. As such, the various meaning differences implied in conceptualization of play (conceptual differences between related concepts, between individuals, and within individuals) were an expanded meaning of play, forming an overall and integrated concept of play. The present study provides a new perspective and multi-faceted understanding of the concept of play through the conceptualization of play by mothers with young children. In addition, based on the versatility of the concept of play and the possibility of abundant interpretation, it is suggested that young children teachers and mothers identify and share each other's understanding of play. The study provides implications for young children's education curriculum created by young children's education institutions and families. ;본 연구의 목적은 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니의 놀이에 대한 개념화를 알아보는 것이다. 이를 위해 단어의미연상을 활용한 심층면담을 통하여 놀이에서 연상되는 주관적이고 체험적인 의미를 구체적으로 알아보고자 하였다. 이에 다음과 같은 연구문제를 설정하였다. 1. 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니의 놀이에 대한 일반적 개념화는 어떠한가? 2. 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니의 자녀의 놀이에 대한 개념화는 어떠한가? 본 연구의 연구참여자는 서울·경기 지역에서 유아기 자녀를 양육중인 어머니 30명이다. 연구기간은 2019년 4월부터 2019년 10월까지로, 자료수집은 단어의미연상을 활용한 심층면담을 통해 이루어졌다. 자료분석은 의미 있는 단어와 어머니의 관용표현을 중심으로 면담 내용을 코딩하고 범주화하는 과정을 통해 이루어졌다. 본 연구의 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니는 재미(재미가 있어야, 재미가 없으면, 각자의 재미는), 친구(친구와 더불어, 관계를 위해서, 외로워 보여서), 힐링(에너지를 충전, 스트레스 해소, 나만의 힐링은), 시간(시간이 없어서, 시간이 있다면, 시간이 있어도), 변화(연령에 따라서, 시대에 따라서, 입장에 따라서)를 중심으로 놀이에 대한 일반적 개념화를 형성하고 있었다. 둘째, 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니는 요즘 엄마의 숙제(놀아줘야한다, 더 잘 놀게 하기, 해줘야하는 일), 나의 일 너의 재미(내 자녀의 미래, 나도 내가 중요, 서로 다른 우리), 놀이상황 최적화(친구 엮어주기, 놀이 계획하기, 실컷 잘 놀았다), 학습이 아닌 배움(학습이 아닌 것, 놀면서 배운다, 놀면서 가르친다), 따로따로 전문가(믿고 맡긴 놀이, 알 수 없는 놀이, 그들만의 리그)를 중심으로 자녀의 놀이에 대한 개념화를 형성하고 있었다. 이렇게 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니의 개념화는 놀이에 대한 보편적이고 전형적인 의미뿐 아니라 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니의 특성이 반영된 비전형적인 의미들을 포괄하여 의미를 형성하고 있었다. 또한 경계가 불분명한 유관개념들과의 역동적인 관계에서 발생하는 모호한 의미들, 시대적, 사회문화적 맥락과 개인의 특성에 따라 유동적, 가변적으로 변화되는 의미들 모두를 포괄하여 의미를 형성함에 따라 현재 우리나라에서 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니집단의 특징적인 개념화를 보여주었다. 이와 함께 놀이의 개념화에 내포된 다양한 의미차이는(유관개념들 간의 의미차이, 개인 간 의미차이, 개인의 입장변화에 따른 의미차이)는 놀이의 의미변화 및 의미확장과 관련하여 놀이에 대한 전체적이고 통합적인 의미를 형성하고 있었다. 본 연구는 유아기 자녀를 둔 어머니의 놀이에 대한 개념화를 통해, 어머니가 체험적, 주관적으로 형성해온 놀이의 의미를 알아봄으로써 놀이에 대한 다각적인 이해와 새로운 관점을 제공하였다는 데에 의의가 있다. 이와 함께 놀이가 가진 다의성과 풍부한 해석의 가능성을 바탕으로, 유아교사와 어머니가 놀이에 대한 서로의 이해를 공유할 것을 제안하며, 유아교육기관과 가정이 함께 만들어가는 유아교육과정을 위한 시사점을 제공하였다.