A critical perspective on child care and social investment in Norway: what is in children’s best interest?

This chapter by Knut Halvorsen, Amy Østertun Geirdal and Anne Grete Tøge critically examines child care policies and programmes in Norway. The experiences of Norwegian children in preschools, schools and families, and the impact on their happiness and mental health, are examined in relation to other European and Western children. The assumption that social investments in children and parents are always in the best interests of the well-being of children is questioned. Drawing on the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1989, the authors contend that human rights, capabilities and citizens’ perspectives should be considered, as an alternative to the social investment perspective. It is argued that the child’s present experience (being) should be balanced with future-oriented investments (becoming).