‘Supervising children to be good people’: Parents and children's views of child supervision in Laos

Researchers have paid little attention to child supervision in Laos, an ethnically-diverse country with a community-informal child protection system, and where many young children are regularly home alone or with another child. To explore what constitutes (in)adequate child supervision and its perceived effects, we conducted individual interviews with community leaders and professionals (n = 23) and focus group discussions with parents/adult caregivers (n = 74) and 12–17 year-old children (n = 51) in six rural villages in Saravane and Borikhamxay provinces. Adults and children in both provinces described similar understandings and support systems of child supervision. Mothers are the main caregivers of young children, and literate fathers contribute to supervising school-age children. Grandparents, older siblings and other relatives, teachers, and village authorities contribute substantively to child supervision. The main aims of supervision are child safety, socialization and moral development in cultural context. Parental unavailability due to employment, farming and migration; limited infrastructure; and lack of material resources are the main barriers to adequate supervision and may result in injuries, school dropout, teenage pregnancy and illicit drug use. Understanding the determinants, consequences, and patterns of child supervision across cultural and socio-economic groups is needed to inform culturally acceptable strategies to support children and families.