Why Fun Aunties Matter: A Modest Account

In this article, I offer a child-centred account of the value of company-keeping relationships between children and adults. These are relationships enjoyed by a child and an adult who is neither a mere acquaintance nor integrally involved in that child's care or upbringing. The adult party might, for example, be a visiting grandparent, a neighbour the child likes to help with gardening, or a ‘fun auntie’ who occasionally babysits. After defining company-keeping relationships, I argue that their child-centred value varies significantly across contexts depending on how the adult party relates to the child and on the needs of the particular child. In some contexts, they promote the child's capacity for independent agency and mitigate undue shame. When these goods arise, it is not despite but because of the fact that the adult party is an outsider to routine family life and is not responsible for the child's ‘training’. I then investigate whether such relationships should be protected or promoted to respect children's rights of association. While I conclude that most company-keeping relationships are excluded from these rights, I defend the more modest view that a child can be morally wronged by a parent who severs or prevents them from forming company-keeping relationships.