The child as a social actor is the main focus of our research. In the recent years there’s been a turn in social anthropology from research “on” to research ‘with” children, trying to overcome the imbalance of power between the adult and the child and treating the child as a competent participant in the study. The child is the subject rather than the object of the study and its experience, knowledge, and perspective becomes valuable data for the researcher. The need to incorporate child’s perspective, despite of being thoroughly discussed, is very slowly put into research practice. Our research will therefore be a practical realization of the postulates of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, granting the child the right to form and express opinions about itself and its life (see Act 12 of the Convention).

Children, due to the imbalance of power between children and adults, are not considered to be fully active social actors. This not only influences their real life experiences but is also reflected in the scientific discourse on children and childhood. Recognizing the child as active agent and actor of the social life leads to such planning of research that enables understanding the meanings created by children.