Sibling as Child Carer

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Children's participation in the tradition of care is an essential feature of socialisation in the Indian context. A sibling carer actively inculcates and contributes to the ecology of care. With an ethnographic stance, the book explores the construal of child care for the young child who is the carer, in a "basti" (settlement) living in marginalized circumstances. Sibling care is not just an an 'alternative arrangement' of childcare. There is clearly an affectionate involvement where the child takes the responsibility of the sibling and shows concerns about the development and future of the child. The study also espouses that education of the young child need not be positioned in opposition to child care. Both sustain the idea of a childhood as well as preparation for the future.