The Reflection of the Attitude Towards Children and Childhood in the Parables of Iranian People with an Emphasis on Bakhtiari's Parables

Believing that parables carry people's lived experiences and their beliefs and attitudes about various topics, including children and childhood, their study leads to a greater understanding of different communities' attitudes toward these subjects. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze the attitude towards children and childhood in the common parables of Bakhtiari culture, using content analysis method. Issues such as the status of children (the importance of having children, the number of children and gender preference), educational issues (the parent's resposiblity for raising the child, factors affecting the child's upbringing and gender stereotypes) and parent-child relationship (child's obedience, benevolence of parents and expectations), are among the topics explored in this research. The results of the analysis revealed that, in Bakhtiari culture, the attitude towards children and childhood is influenced by Iranian and Islamic teachings. Within the studied examples, most issues related to a child's upbringing, such as the role of hereditary and environmental factors on the formation of their personality, have been highlighted—including the idea that the child will resemble their mother or maternal uncles physically and behaviorally. Gender preference is a function of the number of children in the family in this culture, and in terms of stereotypes, girls have been described as more loyal and resourceful compared to boys. Additionally, children are expected to respect their parents, while parents are also reminded not to expect too much from their children.