Professionally run centres have been created in a number of countries
over the past few decades to provide a place for parents and their young
children to meet. They provide children with play opportunities and social
contacts with peers, but they are also intended to tackle the potential
negative consequences of mother-child isolation in modern
societies by providing mothers with some social support.Manymothers
find their participation in the centres to be supportive. This study uses
ethnographic observations of mothers? social experience in centres in
France, Italy and Japan with the aim of better understanding the potential
beneficial effects of attending the centres. Beyond organizational
and cultural differences in the centres across countries, this joint analysis
of observations highlighted important similarities in the social processes
occurring among mothers in the centres and supported the
hypothesis that positive social experiences are the basic potential source
of psychological benefits that the centres provide to mothers.
