In the United States, the dominant contemporary understanding of childhood is one that is cultivated through children's role as dependents, served by adults who are their providers. This framework obscures how children contribute to society through their learning and practice. This paper proposes a reconsideration of children's learning to advance the theoretical conceptualization of emotional labor so that children's contributions can be recognized. To advance an expansion of how adults understand what children's contributions to society are, I frame their social–emotional learning as the practice of emotional labor, not as them simply obtaining the skills of emotional intelligence. In doing so, I advocate for seeing children as more than learners, but also as contributors and producers.

中文翻译：

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儿童的社交情感学习作为情感劳动：认可儿童的贡献


在美国，当代对童年的主流理解是通过儿童作为受抚养人的角色而培养出来的，并由作为养育者的成年人来服务。这个框架掩盖了儿童如何通过学习和实践为社会做出贡献。本文提出对儿童学习的重新思考，以推进情感劳动的理论概念化，使儿童的贡献得到认可。为了促进成年人如何理解儿童对社会的贡献，我将他们的社交情感学习视为情感劳动的实践，而不是简单地获得情商技能。为此，我主张将儿童不仅视为学习者，而且视为贡献者和生产者。