By Agnieszka Cieśla, Mimo Wieku
Mimo Wieku was assigned to elaborate scenarios for the BIG game in 5 locations involving a father with a small child.
In march 2021 a workshop took place. The workshop’s goal was to discuss the challenges particularly fathers are facing when taking care of small children. Mimo Wieku has invited individuals matching the characters profile: males who currently or recently have been taking care of a child aged 2-5 years.
Several challenges were identified during the workshop: insufficient infrastructure for families, lack of provision of infrastructure for parents at playgrounds or the need for extra space during early parenthood for a stroller.
During discussions five scenes for the BIG game were elaborated. First was the playground as young parents tend to spend a lot of time with their kids in this location. Quite often they are being confronted with problems like a lack of toilet or well positioned banks to allow comfortable watching the playing children. The second scene is taking place in the apartment, where young parents with kids face many difficulties primarily relating to the cramped living conditions. Lack of place for a stroller or separate bedroom for a child are very pronounced. The third scene is located in a restaurant, where a visit can be challenging for fathers with children due to, for example, noisy music causing annoyance by the kids. Commuting by public transport was also taken into consideration, as the city infrastructure and buses are often not meeting the needs of a parent with a stroller. As the last scene a community centre was chosen where a father with a child need do visit a doctor.
All the selected scenes are very real and reflect the challenges fathers with children may encounter.