Abstract
The dominant theories, and conceptions of human development and childhood, produced from a modern-colonial perspective, have contributed both to making different childhoods invisible and supporting the incessant medicalization in the field of childcare. In this essay, we propose to discuss the structural and invisible relationships between coloniality and pathologization, problematizing some of the effects of this process on the daily practice of childcare. On a theoretical-reflexive level, nurtured through dialogue with contemporary authors aligned with the decolonial inflection, the text endorses the critique of the hegemonic theory of child development, based on the notions of evolution-progress-hierarchy and, clearly, on the universalization of its foundations. The text goes on to point to evidence that the reproduction of these foundations has been a determining factor in the ongoing process of pathologizing childhood. On an empirical level, the analysis of a concrete situation involving collaboration between nurseries and a mental health service aimed at children revealed that adopting a sensitive and contextualized approach to the "discomfort" produced by children can help break the cycle of exclusion, invisibility, and negativity experienced by many children and their families. The experience also showed that it is possible to produce decolonizing practices in childcare services.
Keywords:
Pathologization; Coloniality; Childhood; Child development; Exclusion; Invisibility