In the article, a model is presented of how one may understand children’s activities in the different settings of everyday life as related to other practices than the cur- rent one. It is argued that to follow a child’s learning and development one must fo- cus on the child’s social situation. It is the interaction between demands and moti- ves, also from other practices in the specific everyday activity setting, which create children’s different social situations at, for instance, home and school.
To illustrate this, two school children’s activities in a specific family are analysed in their relation to other families and schoolmates in different family settings and school settings. The examples illustrate how children are co-producers of the set- tings they participate in, and thereby they influence their own developmental con- ditions. It is obvious that they influence the family settings more than the school settings. When children start school, it will influence the family practice in the specific family settings. Therefore, when analysing children’s social situations, it is im- portant to include the different practices that dominate the children’s day. An un- derstanding of children’s learning and development through participating in differ- ent practices must also include weekends, holidays and special events that all to- gether create a child’s life space.