Atmospheres of Parenthood

"Anyone who has visited the home of parents with a newborn baby can recognize from the outset a specific kind of atmosphere that seems to fill the space. It is often an atmosphere of anticipation, exhilaration, chaos, and apprehension that is tangible and felt "in the air." The parents themselves seem to be expressions of the atmosphere, weighed down by fatigue if not anxiety but simultaneously awestruck by their new arrival. Both parents and visitors can perceive and feel the atmosphere even if both parties interpret the phenomenon differently."

"Traditionally, parenthood has tended to refer to biological, legal, and moral categories. While these categories are vital to the concept of parenthood, parenthood is nevertheless irreducible to them. We can also think of parenthood as a "transformative experience," one that cannot be fully grasped in advance, because becoming a parent constitutes a new kind of self. But parenthood involves more than the transformation of one's sense of self; it also involves a transformation of the world."

"To claim that parenthood is situated in the world means recognizing that parenthood is as much a role one assumes, laden with duties and responsibilities, as it is an enduring affective atmosphere shaped by the presence (actual or anticipated) of the child. The term "affective atmosphere" might have an enigmatic quality, but in varying degrees of intensity, an atmosphere is present in all we do and manifests in the particular things that we encounter."

"We enter rooms or encounter situations, and they strike us from the outset as joyful, unsettling, homely, unhomely, and so forth. We speak of the lifeless feel of an airport departure lounge or the electric atmosphere of a city at night. At its core, an affective atmosphere is a phenomenon that mediates between two con"

A newborn home often carries a tangible atmosphere of anticipation, exhilaration, chaos, and apprehension that both parents and visitors can sense. Parenthood raises questions about what the phenomenon consists of beyond biological, legal, and moral categories. Parenthood is described as a transformative experience that changes the self and also transforms the world. Parenthood is framed as both a role with duties and responsibilities and an enduring affective atmosphere shaped by the actual or anticipated child. An affective atmosphere is presented as a mediating phenomenon that makes situations feel joyful, unsettling, homely, or unhomely from the outset, shaping how people encounter places and events.

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