The purpose of this paper is to analyze children's views concerning the contemporary family. The goal is to understand how children represent their families and how they perceive the links between work, family and their own personal worlds. Required to write an essay on the subject "My family", 52 children participated in this exploratory research. An analysis of the content of the essays revealed six categories of meanings ascribed to the family: conflict, work, leisure, values, family union and detachment. In order to cope with stressful family life, children provided several solutions. Greater emphasis was accorded to three of these solutions: a favorable view of their parents' work, the tendency to take advantage of the positive aspects of family companionship and emphasizing the supportive features. Thus, children kept their families functioning as a vessel for their anxieties. Based on the child's imaginary, this study contributes to a better understanding of family dynamics and the structuring of the subject in the present day.
Imaginary; Family relationships; Family-work relationship; Subjectivity
