Abstract
This paper explores the meaning that the staff members of a child care open space ascribe to their
experience as mothers (Toujishasei) and expertise as child care supporters.
It is often said to be useful for the provision of child care support that the staffs have raised their
own children as mothers. And at the same time, it is argued that they need to have the expertise as child
care supporters.
However, the analysis of the staff narratives at the child care open space suggests that their
attitudes toward the expertise have an ambivalent character. While they claim that they have expertise
in term of having been mothers, they characterize their practice as that of the "non-experts." In
addition, their ambivalent attitudes have a practical reason in that they need to be careful in taking on
the category which has the asymmetric implication between the client and the staff, such as "expert"
and "senior mother." Although they recognize that they have expertise in term of having been mothers,
their expertise involves that of being the "non-experts" ; that is, asymmetric techniques for maintaining
symmetric relationships with their clients.
Valuing experience as mothers and expertise in the child care open space would be misleading,
unless it overlooks these practical techniques for being the "non-expert."
