Parents’ perspectives on the role of kin in child-rearing: a qualitative study on Greenland’s universal parenting programme MANU

ABSTRACT

Nurturing care and protection from parents and community in the early years of life are fundamental for a child’s development. The article aims to explore what relations parents see as meaningful in their child’s upbringing and how these are shaped, and how these perspectives are reflected in MANU. MANU is a universal parenting programme in Greenland. Ten of 40 interviews with parents were selected for the analysis of this article’s objective. Five grandparents were interviewed. Grandparents are the child’s closest extended family members and provide support to parents. Parents placed between one to 19 extended family members in their child’s network. Eating and being in nature together, along with familial and intergenerational connectedness, were deemed valuable and important aspects in child-rearing. Parents’ own experiences in childhood can influence and complicate how parents place their new family within the extended family. The MANU materials address aspects in the role of kin that parents and grandparents described in interviews. The format and delivery of MANU aims to be universal and mostly addresses Western epistemologies, but both Western and Inuit epistemologies coexists in Greenland. This article creates a window into the existing context parents navigate in. It is important that initiatives are built within this context to ensure they are relevant to families

KEYWORDS:

• Parenting programme
• Qualitative methods
• Child-rearing
• Kinship
• Indigenous
• Arctic
• Circumpolar

Introduction

Family, relationships and community are fundamental in Greenlandic culture [1–3]. Relationships run deep and the understanding of family is broad [1,2]. For a Greenlander, experiencing well-being includes having a healthy body, soul and spirit [1]. This holistic view is based on values like humility, relationships and experiences [4]. In Greenland as well as in Nunavut, Canada, parents’ and grandparents’ relationship with the child are fundamental to the sense of belonging [2,5]. As an Inuit elder from Nunavut, Canada, describes it: “In an Inuit cultural setting, children are the centre of family life”. [5]

A former Danish colony, Greenland gained Self Rule in 2009, but remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark [6]. The vast majority of the population, close to 90%, are ethnic Greenlanders (Kalaaleq/Inuit). Cities in Greenland have undergone a rapid urbanisation and individualisation process, which has led to settlement and occupational changes among families [7]. Family and kinship continue to play an immensely important role in modern Greenlandic life [7]. Along with the transition to adopting a more Western lifestyle, Greenland has experienced a deterioration in young people’s mental health linked to adverse childhood experiences [8,9]. Following this, a growing number of studies in the circumpolar region have identified that being connected to ones’ culture and having a relationship with elders serve as protective factors in mental health and well-being [8,10–12]. Therefore, including culture, family and elders in prevention efforts is crucial [8,13,14].

Perinatal programmes (e.g. parenting programmes) aim to prevent future generations from experiencing adverse childhood experiences. Receiving nurturing care and protection from parents, family and community in the early years of life are fundamental for a child’s development and will yield lifelong benefits [15]. Parenting programmes aim to prepare and support the transition to parenthood and promote positive parenting [15,16]. The Greenlandic parenting programme MANU 0–1 year, which stands for Meeraq Angajoqqaat Nuannaarneq, meaning “child’s and parent’s happiness” (henceforth referred to as MANU), aims to guide parents through group sessions to find their own parenting style [6,17]. A previous study, on which this study is based, found that the addressed topics in MANU meet parents’ needs and attitudes [18]. Furthermore, the MANU sessions can provide parents with a space to reflect and a network of parents to reflect with and learn from [18]. Additionally, Ingemann et al. [18] point out how much parents value the grandparent-child relationship and togetherness as a value in child-rearing.

Indigenous populations in the circumpolar region have similar traits in their connection to nature and their culture, while also sharing similar experiences with colonisation. Javo et al. [19] compared parental attitudes on child-rearing among Sami parents with non-Sami parents in one area in Norway. They found that more Sami than non-Sami parents lived close to extended family and were in daily or weekly contact with grandparents, and Sami parents reported more often that grandparents were involved in child-rearing [19]. The importance of the grandparent relation was also identified in a study on Inuit parenting in a Canadian city [20]. Furthermore, elders are also included in the Indigenous-led parenting programmes in Nunavut (Canada) [21] and Sápmi (Norway) [22]. In the Inuit population in Nunavut (Canada), raising a child is a holistic approach and requires a shared responsibility among the community surrounding the child. Drawing on Indigenous literature, Ullrich [23] developed an Indigenous connectedness framework that visualises the importance of connectedness for an Indigenous child’s well-being. The arrival of a new family member leads to a reformation of identity and roles [24]. As Ullrich [23] describes it: “With the birth of a child, you also have the birth of a mother, a father, a grandparent and multiple relationships”. These roles influence the identity and development of the community, and the continued existence of families and communities relies on the children’s existence. Thereby, the grandparent-child relationship becomes important to ensure family ties and teachings are passed on [14,23,25].

Originally, anthropology focused on biological relatedness when describing kinship, which was a euro-centric perspective [26]. Since then, many anthropological studies have looked at the characteristics of Indigenous peoples’ cultures of relatedness and found that affection, nurturance and shared substance underlie all forms of relatedness, which go beyond genealogy [26]. In Greenland, recent studies describe how kinship goes beyond biology and points out the important role families have [2,7]. However, there is a knowledge gap on the role of kin in child-rearing. New parents experience an ambivalence towards reforming their identity to become parents and finding their position in the community, which can lead to closer or more distant relationships [27]. This ambivalence and awareness of one’s network are also topics addressed in MANU [18]. This study aims to explore i) what meaningful relations parents see in their child’s upbringing and how these relationships are shaped, and ii) how these parental perspectives are reflected in selected MANU materials.

Study design and methods

This study is part of a PhD project which applies qualitative methods to explore the implementation of the national parenting programme, MANU, in Greenland [28]. The present study was formed on the basis of the researchers’ curiosity when interviewing parents about their perspectives on parenthood and child-rearing. In the first few interviews conducted with parents, the important role of grandparents stood out. This led to including a few exploratory interviews with grandparents. The interviews were conducted in three of Greenland’s five municipalities. Furthermore, a document analysis of MANU materials was performed. For a comprehensive description of the interviews with parents, refer to Ingemann et al. [18].

Research setting

Kalaallit Nunaat is the Greenlandic name for Greenland and can be translated as “Land of the Kalaallit” [29]. It is the world’s largest island and least densely populated country, with a total population of 56,421 (Grønlands Statistik, 2021). About 60% of the inhabitants live in one of the five largest cities and the remaining population lives in the other 11 cities and about 54 settlements. The five largest towns are the capitals of each of Greenland’s five municipalities, where the hospitals of the respectively five health regions are placed. There are no connecting roads; hence, communities are isolated from each other and only reachable by air or sea. Countrywide, there are marked socioeconomic and infrastructural differences between communities (Bjerregaard & Larsen, 2016). Greenland has roughly adopted the Danish welfare model and health care system.

Three of the five municipalities in Greenland were selected for this study. Data was primarily collected in the capital cities of these municipalities, while parents from smaller communities were included through phone interviews or by them being present in the capital city due to childbirth.

The MANU materials

The parenting programme MANU 0–1 Year was the first MANU material developed and was implemented in 2017 as a public health intervention. The overall aim of MANU is to provide parents with relevant information and reflections on parenthood through pedagogical exercises [6,17]. MANU is based on developmental theories, international evidence on the first thousand days of life and the challenge of high number of vulnerable families in Greenland [6]. Ultimately, MANU is expected to secure a healthy foundation for children’s development and reduce the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences [17,30]. In this article, we will investigate how the topics addressed by parents is reflected in three MANU materials: MANU parenting book, MANU grandparent booklet, and MANU community meeting.

The “MANU parenting book” is provided to expecting and new parents who choose to attend the parenting programme MANU 0–1 Year. The parenting book contains information and conversational exercises on the perinatal period and transition to parenthood. Aside from the book, parents are invited to attend six antenatal and three postnatal 2.5-hour sessions facilitated by midwives, public health nurses (Danish: sundhedsplejerske), or health assistants [6,17,18]. The book and sessions coincide in terms of content. As a national programme, MANU is to be implemented in all five regions. Ingemann et al. [18] describe parents’ experiences with attending these MANU sessions and using the MANU parenting book.

The “MANU grandparent booklet” consist of two small booklets, one for expecting parents and one for grandparents. The booklets aim to support parents’ and grandparents’ transition to their new roles. The booklets were developed in 2020 but have to date not been implemented.

The “MANU community meeting” consists of a manual for the meeting chair, a slideshow and an animated film. The material is intended to be user-friendly for any community member to use. The aim of a community meeting is i) to strengthen parenting and parental responsibility for the benefit of the children by activating the resources in the local community, ii) to support opportunities for action and cooperation between different actors in the local community for the benefit of a safe environment for children, and iii) to reflect on and talk about responsibility for children and shared dreams for the future. “MANU community meeting” was developed in 2017 and disseminated to all municipalities.

Selected interviews with parents

38 mothers and 12 fathers were interviewed, either individually or as a couple, resulting in 40 interviews in total. A detailed overview of participant characteristics is provided in the preceding study by Ingemann et al. [18]. Of these, 10 interviews were selected for additional analysis for the present study’s aim to investigate the role of family involvement in child-rearing. These 10 interviews were selected based on the criteria that (i) they should contain rich descriptions of the roles of the people in their network and of their own childhood experiences; (ii) the participant has children but is not currently pregnant. With the latter we wanted to ensure that participants already have some experience with family involvement in child-rearing. Table 1 gives an overview of the 10 selected interviews, of which one is a couple interview. In the overview participants’ gender, age, their youngest child’s age, other children’s age, if they are together with their youngest child’s parent, and language spoken in the interview are indicated. Additionally, it is indicated whether the participants have attended MANU 0–1 Year sessions or not. However, it is not possible to provide the number of sessions parents have attended [18]. All participants of the selected interviews live in a large town.

Table 1. Overview of selected interviews.

	Gender	Individual or couple interview	Age	Age of youngest child	Age of other children	Together with partner	Language in interview	Attended MANU 0–1 Year sessions
1	Female	Individual	31	Pregnant	1 year	Yes	Greenlandic	Yes
2	Female	Individual	24	1 year 3 months	None	No	Greenlandic	Yes
3	Female & male	Couple	26 & 32	6 months	7, 6 & 4 years	Yes	Greenlandic	No
4	Female	Individual	22	1 month	None	Yes	Greenlandic	Yes
5	Female	Individual	26	11 months	None	Yes	Greenlandic	No
6	Female	Individual	34	7 months	18 & 2 years	Yes	Greenlandic	Yes
7	Female	Individual	34	8 months	None	Yes	Danish	Yes
8	Male	Individual	34	11 months	None	Yes	Greenlandic	Yes
9	Male	Individual	28	9 months	None	Yes	Greenlandic	Yes
10	Female	Individual	36	4 months	None	Yes	Danish	Yes

Data collection

Semi-structured interviews with parents

Participants could choose to be interviewed in Greenlandic or Danish. The semi-structured interviews were primarily done in Greenlandic by Else Jensen, while Christine Ingemann was present during all interviews to observe the conversation and to be available for potential questions. A semi-structured interview guide on the topics “family and parenthood” and “MANU” was developed, piloted and translated into Greenlandic (Appendix 1). The interview questions concerning the current study dealt with important family relations in child-rearing, responsibility in child-rearing, and parents’ relationship to the older generation (e.g. grandparents). Additionally, to these questions an empty circular chart (Appendix 2) was used to place family relations in relation to their child and to support the participant’s descriptions. The circular chart was inspired by a similar exercise in the parenting programme MANU.

Explorative interviews with grandparents

After the first few interviews were conducted on the first study site, it became apparent that many parents highly valued the grandparent-child relationship based on their own childhood experiences. Therefore, an explorative group interview with three grandparents living in an elderly home was held on the first study site. On the second site two grandparents, who we met by chance during our stay, were individually interviewed. The grandparents were interviewed in their preferred language.

In the interviews, the grandparents were asked to first present themselves and how many children and grandchildren they have and where they live. Then they were asked: i) What values do you see as important in child-rearing? ii) What role do grandparents have in child-rearing? iii) How is parenting different now compared to your time as a parent or when you were a child?

Five grandparents, two male and three female, participated in the study, all of whom had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The number of offspring varied from three grandchildren to over 20 great-grandchildren. Four grandparents were born in the 1940s and one grandparent was born in the 1950s.

Data analysis

The audio-recorded interviews were primarily transcribed and translated by Jensen, while the Danish interviews were transcribed primarily by Ingemann. The 10 interviews were thematically analysed [31]. Ingelise Olesen, Ingemann and Jensen formed an analysis team and analysed and discussed the parent and grandparent interviews in five meetings. Based on the topics and aspects discussed, a mind-map was generated, meaning that topics were grouped and connected to each other as they emerged from the analysis and the discussions.

Analysis of the circular chart

All 40 circular charts filled out by hand in connection to the interview question “Who in the family do you expect to play a role in your child’s upbringing? Use the circular chart to place from the middle and out the close to less close relations.” were translated. The different relations (e.g. grandparent, aunt, friend, etc.) and how close to the child the relation was placed in the chart were summarised and counted.

Our analysis categorised the network of participants’ social relations as the unit of observation. This is in contrast to categorising individuals as the unit of observation. Relations may consist of multiple individuals, such as a grandmother and grandfather being the unit of grandparents. Furthermore, we were interested in where relations were placed and the activities parents connected with them. In the interviews it was not specified whether a relation was emotional or physical. In two interviews, the circle was not filled in; thus, 38 circles are included in this analysis. This analysis of the circles should therefore only be seen as an indication and idea of how parents map out their network.

Document analysis

A qualitative content analysis [32] of the MANU materials was applied with a focus on extracting information regarding the MANU materials content and aim. Moreover, a focus was placed on the informational text and exercises that address the role of kin in child rearing and parenthood.

Ethical considerations

The Greenlandic Scientific Ethical Committee (Danish: Det Videnskabsetiske Komitee) granted ethical approval of the project.

Each participant was provided with an informed consent form in either Danish or Greenlandic, and the content was explained. Participants signed the form to document their informed agreement and received a copy with contact details. For the de-identification of the data, codes for each participant and material were developed. All data is stored in accordance with data management guidelines on an encrypted drive. All stakeholders and participants were invited to receive an email newsletter on updates and results of the study.

The quotes presented in this paper were translated from Greenlandic into Danish and then into English, or from Danish into English. We made changes in the quotes for practical and confidential reasons but did not alter the meaning of the statements. For some results, quotes are not provided, since the use of them would breach with confidentiality. Due to the Greenland’s small population size, it can be difficult to apply de-identification on certain quotes of participants.

Results

This study looks at the role of kin in child-rearing. In the analysis, the following four overarching topics emerged: i) number of kin in the child’s network, ii) sense of community in child-rearing, iii) the grandparent relationship and iv) the influence of the parents’ own experiences on relationships. At the end of each topic, we will describe related topics addressed in the MANU’s parenting book, grandparent booklet and community meetings.

Number of kin in the child’s network

38 circles were analysed. Of the four overlapping circles, the middle or first circle were most often used to place the child, parents, and siblings. After that, up to 19 or more relationships (median 8.5) and an average of 7.34 relationships in total were mentioned in the other three circles together. In the second circle, parents placed up to 10 or more relationships (median 4) with a mean of 3.84 relationships. Here, in most cases the grandparents were placed. Parents’ siblings and other family members were also mentioned within this second circle. In the third circle, up to 11 or more relationships were mentioned (median 4) with an average of 2.63 relationships. Parents’ siblings and other family members (e.g. parents’ aunts or uncles) and friends were most often mentioned here. In the fourth and last circle, up to 6 or more relationships occurred (median 2.5) and on average 0.87 relationships were mentioned. In this last circle, to a greater extent, friends and general people in town were placed. Figure 1 illustrates an example of a filled circle based on the overall findings.

Figure 1. Example circular chart based on generalised results.

A mother was surprised about how many she had placed in her child’s network. After she had finished filling out the circular chart, she said:

I didn’t expect that there are that many important people in relation to my child. We do not even have that much family living in town. (Mother 1)

With almost no space left in the circular chart, a mother and father stopped themselves from writing down all the relations in the child’s network, explaining that “if we write all of them down, then it will be way too many. We will just stop here”. (Father 3)

The reflection of kin network in MANU

The “MANU community meeting” material focuses on the importance of having a supportive community that can create a safe environment for children and their families. The “MANU parenting book” illustrates how, upon childbirth, you become a small family within the big family. Furthermore, in an exercise in the “MANU parenting book”, parents are asked to first map the people and activities important to them in a circular chart (identical to the one applied in this study’s interviews). Afterwards, they were asked to fill out the circular chart again with people and activities important to them once they have become a parent.

Sense of community in child-rearing

Parents were asked what role the mapped relations are expected to have in the child’s upbringing, and which values are important in child-rearing. Their responses to these questions all related to experiencing and cultivating the sense of community, which emerged as an important value in child-rearing in the interviews with parents and grandparents. Parents describe the importance of their children learning about their kinship. As a mother pointed out:

It is important to me that she [daughter] knows who her family members are. (Mother 2)

A parent and a grandparent added that historically, the underlying idea of knowing one’s kinship was to prevent inbreeding.

Parents show their child their kinship network by explaining family relations and naming family members; by greeting family members when meeting them on the street; by keeping immediate family members up to date on the child’s development; and by experiencing sense of community. A mother describes the sense of community by how their door is always open for family to come visit:

Our son’s ilooraaraq [cousins] come to our house any time they feel like it and want to be together. (Mother 2)

Another parent describes how they are close to a family member even though, in her opinion, they do not see each other often:

We are also close with her uncle’s family, but we don’t see them that often. They work all the time. We see them mostly on holidays or meet them in the street. (Mother 3)

Community also indicates a sense of belonging, which participants can experience when they by accident find they are related to a person they have just met. People will also search for a sense of belonging by, for example, asking new people they meet their surname, who they are related to or where they come from in Greenland. This also occurred during data collection. In several interviews, either when introducing ourselves or during the interview, participants and interviewer EJ would learn that they are related to each other and instantly feel a sense of belonging; however, this sense would perhaps just last for that moment without necessarily invoking any further need to investigate or cultivate this newfound connection.

Parents’ descriptions also showed that naming the relationship between a person and the child put an important value to the relation. In Greenland, besides naming grandparents (e.g. in Greenlandic: ningiu, ittu, aanaa, aataa), an aunt (e.g. in Greenlandic: aja) and uncle (e.g. in Greenlandic: akka), it is in the Greenlandic language possible to further differentiate whether, for example, someone is the child’s mother’s eldest (e.g. ajarsuaq) or youngest (e.g. ajaaraq) sister. However, this is not the same in each family and it is very personal how names are created, how they are used and what they signify. Furthermore, parents have also created names for relationships they consider important, such as for a friend or a distant cousin. A mother describes this as follows:

My daughter calls my best friend ajaaja [aunt]. Even though she does not live in our town, she [daughter] is comfortable with her. (Mother 1)

The extended family is the community with whom participants share their good and bad times, and with whom they gather on holidays and for celebrations and funerals. A father shared how both grandmothers were present at the birth of their daughter:

When she [daughter] was born, both of her grandmothers were present. We see the grandparents often. (Father 1)

In most cases, parents described their child’s grandparents to be the closest relation with whom they eat with on a regular basis. Experiencing and being in nature with family was also mentioned as an important part of feeling the sense of community and belonging. Examples of these are provided in the following quotes by two mothers:

Our family friends are as close with our child as the grandparents. We eat together with our friends very often and do things together. (Mother 1)

My father visits us at least twice a week. Before we had our son, it was only once a week. We usually eat together. (Mother 4)

The reflection of sense of community in MANU

The “MANU parenting book” includes an exercise where parents are asked to fill out the family tree for their unborn child. In connection to this exercise, parents are asked to reflect on emotions and experiences connected to extended family members and if they find that things have changed from generation to generation. Furthermore, the parenting book also points out how in Greenland the family is of crucial importance to the individual family member. This involves receiving support and care. By contrast, the involvement of extended family members can also be unwanted and cause conflicts.

The grandparent relation

The grandparents emerged as an important relation from the interviews. In addition to the above-mentioned interview questions, their role was further elaborated upon through an interview question on whether parents themselves have been attached to older people in their own childhood. A mother shared with us the important role her grandparents played in her life:

They [grandparents] have had a big influence on me, because I have always spent much time together with them and visited them on my own. Being with them has given me feelings of happiness, and this is something that is important for me to tell my child, how important grandparents are. (Mother 1)

Participants, both parents and grandparents, remember their own grandparents with joy. They describe their own grandparents as close relations who provided them with pure love and security during childhood, and they also taught them about their ancestors, and how to be safe in nature and how to take care of it. Grandparents, as the heads of the family, are also described by parents as a gathering point for the whole family – a place where the family comes together. A few parents experienced how the loss of a grandparent led to fragility in the family’s unity, as there was no elder who took over as the head of the family.

During my childhood, my grandmother was very present and played an important role in our family. We’ve been close in the family, but after my grandmother’s death the family fell apart even though we live in the same city. It is therefore limited how much my own daughter gets to experience this, because family members no longer visit as often as when I was little. (Mother 5)

Even when grandparents did not live in the same town as the new family, both grandparents and parents describe that it is of importance for them that family, especially grandparents, from out of town can follow the child’s development through, for example, video calls. Grandparents also played an important role for the parents. Grandparents step in when the parents need help, such as when in need of housing. Parents also mentioned that they seek advice from their own parents, that grandparents help out with buying, for example, clothes for the newborn, and offer practical help with daily chores or looking after the children. As two parents explain:

Iiu and ittu [grandparents] have a very important role, they support us in everything. (Mother 6)

If we are prevented from looking after our daughter, we can always count on our grandparents. […] We visit them [grandparents], they invite us over for meals, they come over to us. They can’t get enough [giggles]; we see them every second day. (Father 2)

While appreciating the support grandparents provide, parents also expressed challenges when grandparents gave unwanted advice or opinions regarding the upbringing of their child. A mother explained this, while also adding that she respects that her parents, as grandparents, carry wisdom:

His (father’s) mother finds everything we do great and says “oh it so great that you do this”. While my mother is maybe more like “hm, should you really be doing it this way, shouldn’t you rather be doing it that way?”. She is opinionated, while his mother doesn’t really have one. (Mother 4)

Reflection of the grandparent relationship in MANU

The “MANU parenting book” writes that raising a child is a shared task and, in connection to this, asks parents to reflect on whether they can receive support from extended family members and if they are interested in receiving help. As the book says, help from one’s network can be a relief, but it might also be necessary to set boundaries for the support and guidance offered. The book addresses how grandparents can offer plenty of good advice, but at times advice can be unwelcome. This is also addressed in the “MANU grandparent booklet”, which suggests that grandparents inform themselves about the rules parents’ would like to set out for raising their child. The booklet also encourages grandparents to offer their support to the family and proposes that grandparents should share their family stories.

The influence of parents’ own experiences on relationships

In the interviews, most parents also shared openly if they had a vulnerable upbringing, meaning having had adverse childhood experiences. It appeared important for parents to state whether or not they were exposed to alcohol and/or hashish in their childhood home. Additionally, many parents described how they have decided that their child should not be exposed to intoxicated grown-ups at home. Therefore, their family home is an alcohol and hashish-free zone. However, some parents said that it was difficult to raise their child with a sense of community while also protecting their child from adverse experiences of their own childhood. Some parents’ family had a history of addiction issues, and one or more parents themselves also had an addiction prior to having children. When becoming a parent, parents want to protect their child from the adverse experiences they have had. This can result in a detachment from one’s own parents and extended family. At the same time, parents tend to rely on the support they can get from their own parents and extended family. Furthermore, they want their child to experience the sense of belonging and loving relationship with grandparents.

A different example of how substance abuse has impacted family relationships was described by one of the grandparents in this study. The grandparent shared with us his experiences from childhood to fatherhood and now being a grandfather. When he was a child, he learned to hunt from his father. Later, when he was young and became a father himself, he had developed an alcohol addiction which he struggled to break free from. Now a grandfather, he says he lost his opportunity as a father to pass down his knowledge and joy of hunting and being in nature that he got from his own father. Today, he tries to make up for this missed opportunity by passing on this knowledge to his grandchildren.

Reflection of parents’ own childhood experiences in MANU

In all three MANU materials, parents, grandparents and community members are asked to reflect on their own experiences in their childhood and discuss what they would like to pass on to the newborn child and what not. Furthermore, the “MANU community meeting” proposes that community members support each other and identify ways in which they can be more supportive as a community. The “MANU grandparent booklet” encourages grandparents and parents to talk about potential negative experiences they have had in the past, in order for them to move past potential conflicts. The booklet also provides information on the national anonymous helpline.

Discussion

This study investigated which meaningful relations parents see in their child’s upbringing when creating a new family. In this section, we will discuss these findings and how these perspectives compare with MANU’s material and content.

From the interviews, it stood out how parents most often voiced whether or not they had a vulnerable upbringing. This seemed to influence all parents’ descriptions of the importance of giving their child a safe and loving upbringing within their community and in a home without alcohol, hashish, and conflict. Grandparents were described as the closest extended family members to the child, but besides grandparents’ relation to the child, they also played an important role for the new parents. Parents described how grandparents, and for some also other family members, provide support when necessary, give advice when needed, and help the new family with practical tasks. Grandparents are typically the head of the family and function as a gathering point for the whole extended family, where a sense of community follows. On average, parents placed seven relations in their child’s network, and some noted 19. Parents characterised experiencing community through practices such as sharing meals with family members on a regular basis, gathering for holidays and spending time in nature together as important values in their child’s upbringing. Furthermore, parents found it important to teach their children about their kin network and marking important relations with personal names. These values contribute to the sense of belonging. However, parents’ own (adverse) childhood experiences can influence and complicate how parents place themselves and their own new family within the bigger extended family. For some, distancing themselves from their extended family has led to a loss of community.

Conditions for choosing relationships in child-rearing

Parents’ own network forms the basis of the network they shape for their child and the relationships they choose to nourish. The decision on the latter is based on their own experiences with these relationships.

It is important to recognise which generation this study’s participants are from in connection with Greenland’s history and context in which they grew up. Four of the five grandparents were born in 1940, when Greenland was still a colony and when Christianity and authoritarian upbringing were dominating. Parents participating in the present study were born between 1984 and 1999. In the 1960s, when this study’s elderly participants began to have children, the Greenland Population Health Survey shows an increase in the number of children who were brought up in a home with one or more addictions (alcohol, hashish or gambling) [33]. From the 1960s until 1987, the use of alcohol increased on a national scale, then consumption plummeted and since 1993 we can see a slight decrease of consumption [34]. More than 60% of the survey participants born between 1965–1995 and who likely reported their childhood conditions in the period of 1970–2000 reported having been exposed to adverse childhood experiences [34]. Furthermore, findings from the study “Unges Trivsel i Grønland 2011” [Young people’s well-being in Greenland 2011] on young people born in 1996 or earlier, growing up with adverse childhood experiences constituted a central theme for the young people’s ill-being [35].

In the interviews, most parents described having had a vulnerable upbringing, which in most cases has been associated with alcohol addiction. Parents who do not mention having experienced addiction in their childhood, nevertheless emphasise that their upbringing was alcohol-free and safe. Furthermore, they make a point of clarifying that their child must grow up safely, defined as in an alcohol-free home, among other things. This means that regardless of whether one has had a vulnerable upbringing or not, this generation of parents bears the negative consequences of the post-colonial period. Even if a parent did not grow up with addiction in their family, it has been a dominant topic discussed in society that makes them want to defend themselves against it and break free from this stigma.

The circumstances in a parent’s network that may be linked to addiction or adverse childhood experiences can lead to parents consciously or unconsciously opting out of some (familial) relationships when transitioning into parenthood. A loss of relationships can result in a loss of a valuable (supportive) network, experiences associated with community and a sense of belonging, and ultimately a loss of knowledge and values connected to these relationships. For those parents where this was the case, they would map other family members, friends or public services closer to the child and themselves (e.g. employees at a family centre). This is something that can be addressed by communities by using the “MANU community meeting” material, which encourages communities to collaborate and support each other in order to create safe, thriving environments for children and families.

Walking in two worlds

Tróndheim [7], who studied Greenlandic kinship, describes how modern Greenlandic families still value and nurture familial relations and community, despite adopting more Western ways of individuality.

Walking in two worlds is a common metaphor Indigenous peoples use to describe their experiences navigating the differences between Indigenous and Western epistemological and ontological worldviews across various contexts.

[36]

The expression walking in two worlds also fits very well with the participants’ shared experiences. Parents expressed wanting to be a nuclear family, where they as parents are the only ones responsible for raising their child, while also wanting to involve extended family in the process. While support from extended family is largely appreciated, it can also be difficult for new parents to navigate in it when their perceptions on how to raise their child differ from traditional ways. This ambivalence is addressed in varied ways in both the “MANU parenting book” and “MANU grandparent booklet”.

Nørtoft and Jensen [37] describe how Greenland’s rapid transition from a hunting community to a modern welfare society has resulted in vastly different horizons of experiences between generations, which can be understood as cultural gaps. This can lead to difficulties in understanding each other across generations and the degree to which each other’s resources and experiences are perceived as relevant and important [37]. This has led to elderly people finding that their contributions are not respected in the same way as the wisdom of elders traditionally was respected. In Greenland, elders are no longer perceived as an institution in itself, as they are in North America, but more likely continue to be respected as an elderly person or grandparent within their family. In many families, the intergenerational knowledge is passed on through storytelling, traditions and experiences, but there are also families where this does not occur [37]. Balto [38], who studied values in child-rearing in Sápmi, identifies aspects that in modern times continue to be important in Sámi child-rearing. One aspect deals with the importance of teaching children about their kinship, ensuring that they experience a sense of belonging and ultimately that children develop accountability towards their community. In the present study, some parents have not experienced this intergenerational sharing of knowledge due to addiction problems in past generations.

Intergenerational and family connectedness

Scholars have identified connectedness to culture and community as a protective factor [8,39]. In the Native American worldview, a holistic sense of connectedness of the individual with their family, community and natural environments is important [39]. Furthermore, Ullrich [23] introduces the Indigenous Connectedness Framework, which is a representation of common concepts of well-being across Indigenous communities and epistemologies. Here, maintaining connectedness to one’s family, community, past and future generations, the environment and spirit will result in collective well-being [23]. This also relates to this study’s participants’ descriptions of values for child-rearing, where connectedness is formed by the passing on of knowledge and by bonding in activities together, such as intergenerational connectedness by teaching children their kinship network and by naming the different relationships; family connectedness by including extended family in the upbringing of the child; and environmental connectedness by sharing experiences in nature together with family members and learning about, for example, hunting and sailing. Moreover, Wilson [40] describes how the Indigenous paradigm is grounded in relationality and how that is also reflected in the Indigenous language. This is reflected in parents’ ways of naming their child’s relationships to emphasise their importance and value. For example, ajarsuaq being the child’s mother’s older sister or signifying that the mother’s friend has a relationship with the child by, for example, naming her ajaaja (aunt). The “MANU grandparent booklet” suggests that grandparents share intergenerational experiences with their grandchildren through storytelling about their past and family stories.

Many Arctic Indigenous communities recognise the need for healing from the colonial past and the trauma which resulted in breaking the system of intergenerational knowledge transition and for some meant losing their community, a sense of belonging and knowledge. In communities in Canada, the Indigenous ways of knowing in child-rearing are being documented [41]. In the Northwest Territories in Canada, women’s acquisition of breastfeeding knowledge and cultural practices were interrupted by the impact of colonisation. Therefore, an initiative sought to gather knowledge from mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Their knowledge on breastfeeding and mothering issues were assembled in easily accessible informational material [41–43]. In Nunavut (Canada) the Inunnguiniq parenting programme [44] was initiated, based on several public engagement sessions in communities in Nunavut and is now an Indigenous-led programme that brings back Inuit parenting teachings and practices in ways that work today [22,41].

The applicability of MANU’s materials

All three MANU materials address aspects of the role of kin in child-rearing that parents discussed in interviews. Since MANU is a universal programme, meaning accessible to everyone, the topics are broadly addressed and mainly encourage parents to reflect. However, Ingemann et al. [18] found that the parenting book is barely used by parents outside facilitated sessions within the MANU parenting programme. Furthermore, it depends on the facilitator how much different topics in a session are discussed and also on the participation of parents [18]. While there is a focus on the parents being the ones raising the child during group sessions, we imagine that it can be difficult to apply the learned knowledge when returning to a home where the extended family is included in their daily lives. Furthermore, the importance of being together in nature and being with extended family, which creates connectedness, are aspects that are lacking or barely addressed in MANU. Nature’s role in Indigenous populations’ well-being has also been described by other Arctic scholars [45,46].

The grandparent booklet is not implemented. The use of the “MANU community meeting” material has not been monitored nor evaluated, which is why it is not possible to say whether the material is being applied, nor whether it has had any effect on communities.

When considering the suggestions made and examples given in the materials, as well as the format of the materials, it seems the materials were developed in a city life context with largely a nuclear family perspective in mind. For example, in the grandparent booklet, the suggestions make it seem that it is assumed that grandparents are not working anymore. The “MANU parenting book” is text-heavy and presupposes parents are used to and comfortable with doing reflection exercises. This was also something professionals working with MANU identified as a barrier in a previous study by Ingemann et al. [6]. The “MANU community meeting” expects that a user-friendly manual and a prepared slideshow enables any community member to conduct and lead such a meeting. We point this out having in mind the towns and villages that are vastly different in their context than Nuuk. These communities are smaller, which possibly could make positioning oneself in front of one’s community a more daunting prospect.

Strengths and limitations

This article was formed on the basis of the researchers’ curiosity. If this topic had been an aim of the larger project from the outset, it could have been useful to apply a phenomenological approach, which would have given a more detailed insight into the meaning of family relations to parents. The application of network analysis tools could have given a specific insight on, for example, the frequency of relations. In the study, parents filled out the circles differently. Some parents wrote very precisely every single person in their network, whereas others grouped them (e.g. the father’s siblings). Others, grouped some relations while omitting others.

Working with a Greenlandic interviewer made it possible for parents to speak in their preferred language. The collaboration with IO (Indigenous researcher) and EJ (Greenlandic interviewer) on the analysis and in writing this paper is a strength in this article. It ensured that the findings presented stay true to the participants’ descriptions and are, to a greater extent, described from the Greenlandic epistemologies of IO and EJ than of CI’s Western epistemology [47].

Finally, even though some would perceive it as a strength that some participants were distantly related or connected to the interviewer EJ, we consider it a strength in this study. The feeling of connectedness that arose in the moment seemed to make participants joyful and comfortable within the interview situation.

Conclusion

This article aimed to explore the role of kin in child-rearing from the perspective of expecting and new parents and how these findings compare with the following MANU materials: the “MANU parenting book”, the “MANU grandparent booklet” and the “MANU community meeting”. Parents’ own network forms the basis of the network they shape for their child and the relationships they choose to nourish. The parents’ personal experiences can lead to withdrawing from relationships when transitioning into parenthood. This can result in a loss of support and missing out on the opportunity to pass on intergenerational and familial connectedness to their child. The MANU materials address aspects in the role of kin that parents and grandparents described in interviews, such as conflicts that can arise when modern and traditional ways of child-rearing are confronted between parents and grandparents. However, even though the format and delivery of MANU aims to be universal, it seems to mostly address more Western epistemologies, while both Western and Inuit epistemologies exist in Greenland. Furthermore, MANU does not address the importance of connecting with nature and kinship in child-rearing. This article creates a window into the existing context that parents navigate in terms of child-rearing and parenthood and in which families live. It is important that public health initiatives are based on or even built within this context to ensure that those initiatives are relevant and meet families’ needs and preferences.

List of abbreviations

MANU = Meeraq Angajoqqaat Nuannaarneq – the Greenlandic parenting programme

Authors’ contributions

CI, CVLL, SK, TTT conceived and designed the study. CI conducted all data collection together with EJ. Data analysis was conducted by CI, EJ and IO under the supervision of SK. CI drafted the manuscript. Critical revision of the manuscript was given by CI, IO, EJ, SK, TTT and CVLL. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Authors’ information

All authors are female. The corresponding and first author CI was a PhD student at the time of data collection and writing this article. IO is a Greenlandic, Indigenous research coordinator and EJ a Greenlandic, Indigenous interviewer. CVLL, SK and TTT are professors and supervisors of CI’s PhD project.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study has been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the Greenlandic Science Ethics Committee (Danish: Videnskabsetisk Udvalg) granted ethical approval of the project. Each participant was provided with an informed consent form in either Danish or Greenlandic, and the content was explained. Participants signed the form to document their informed agreement and received a copy with contact details.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all participants for their time and openness in contributing to this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The datasets analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the difficulty to de-identify qualitative data in a small population like Greenland, but data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2023.2225720

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by National Board of Social Services and Health Prevention, Agency for Prevention and Social Affairs, University of Southern Denmark, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The funding bodies were kept in the loop about design and data collection, but the study was carried out as independent research by the authors.