Bu çalışmanın amacı ebeveynlerin "çocuk" kavramına ilişkin sahip oldukları algıları metaforlar yoluyla ortaya çıkarmaktır. Bu çalışmada, nitel araştırma modellerinden olan olgu bilim (fenomenoloji) modeli kullanılmıştır. Çalışma 2014-2015 öğretim yılında random yoluyla ulaşılan ve gönüllü olarak çalışmaya katılan 47'si kadın 53'ü erkek olmak üzere 100 ebeveyn ile yürütülmüştür. Araştırma verileri açık uçlu soruların yer aldığı formlar aracılığı ile toplanmıştır. Araştırmaya katılan ebeveynlerin çocuk kavramına ilişkin algılarını belirlemek amacıyla "Çocuk................. gibidir; çünkü....................................." İfadesinin yer aldığı bir form dağıtılarak görüşlerini yazmaları istenmiştir. Çalışma sonunda elde edilen veriler içerik analizine uygun bir şekilde çözümlenmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlar alan yazında yapılan çalışmaların sonuçları ile karşılaştırıldığında öğretmenler ve öğretmen adayları ile yapılan çalışmalarda ağırlıklı olarak "şekillendirilebilen bir varlık" olarak tanımlanan çocuklar bu çalışmada ebeveynler tarafından daha çok "mutluluk kaynağı" ve "değerli birer varlık" olarak algılanmaktadır. Bu duruma göre, kavramlara nereden baktığımız onlara yüklediğimiz anlamların belirleyicisi olmaktadır. Bu algı farklılığını oluşturan ise bizim kuantum bakış açımızdır. Yani herhangi bir kavram ile ilgili algılarımızın -özel de çocuk kavramı ile ilgili algımızın- belirleyicisi sadece öğretmen, öğretmen adayı ya da ebeveyn oluşumuz değil bu kavram ile ilgili olarak kendimizi etken ya da edilgen konumlandırışımız ve kavrama nereden baktığımızdır

The family is one of the important factors that affects students' learning in the school environment and at the same time their academic achievement. In terms of education, the family environment is very important in the early childhood period in which the development of the child is fast and he acquires his personality traits. The educational environment of the family and the parents' attitudes towards the children can either reinforce or blunt what they have learned in school (Bruner, 1960). According to researches on determining the effect of parents on their children's education (Ballantine, 1983: 73; VVebb and Villiamy, 1996: 303), it has been found out that the effect of home environment is more dominant than school program in determining success, and the illiteracy of the family in children education has a negative effect on the child (Atakli, 1999: 247). In this case, family environment outside of school, especially the attitudes of parents, can both improve children's learning behaviors and also bring about negative effects on their learning (Erdogdu, 2007: 35). One of the determinants of the attitudes of family, especially of the parents, considered to have a serious effect on child's developing skills (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor) as a whole while raising their children is the perceptions they have towards the concept of child. These perceptions they have are most of the time and without being aware reflected in their style of raising children. From this point of view, parents ' perceptions and perspectives of their child in relation to the concept of child, in other words, their affective properties will have a positive effect on our understanding of the attitudes of parents each of whom is at the same time parents of students. From this aspect, metaphors constitute an important function in uncovering affective properties of parents in relation to the concept of child. Purpose This research was carried out in an attempt to find out the perceptions that parents have in relation to the concept of "child" through metaphors. Within the framework of this general objective, it was intended to provide answers to the following questions. 1. Which metaphors do the parents have in relation to concept of " child"? 2. According to their common features, under which categories can the metaphors that the parents stated be grouped ? Method Research Design In this study, phenomenography, which is a qualitative research method, was used. Phenomenographic research design allows researchers to conduct an in-depth examination of the phenomena (such as events, experiences and situations) that we encounter in our daily lives, but do not think about much or have detailed information about (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2011). Research Group This research was conducted in the academic year of 2014-2015 with 100 parents who were randomly contacted and participated in the study voluntarily. Of the participants, 53 were male and 47 female. Collection and Analysis of Data In order to determine the perceptions of parents in relation to the concept of child, a form which included the expression " Child is just like ..............because it is .........." was distributed. Content analysis was conducted on the data obtained.The analysis of the metaphors that the surveyed parents developed was done in five stages. (1) coding and elimination stage, (2) assembling sample metaphors image stage, (3) category developing stage, (4) providing validity and reliability stage and (5) transferring the data to a computer. Measure According to the overall findings obtained from this survey, parents developed 77 metpahors in relation to the concept of "child". Of the 77 metaphors developed, 16 (Tree, Flower, Love, Water, Rose, Life, Joy, Angel, Dough, Happiness, All we have, Mirror, Gluon, The human eye, Robot, Heart ) were by 2 and 4 participants. The other metaphors were developed by just one participant. The metaphors were grouped in terms of their common features in accorance with the data obtained from the study group and each group created a category. Thus, the number of categories created in this research is 10. Categories in a sequence are as Child as a Reflective (f=10, n=8) [Mirror (2),Glass (1), Eye(1), Sun(1), Light(1), Heart(2), Robot(1) A clean Sheet (1), A stage actor(1)], Child as a Passive Recipient (f=6, n=6) [An unrecorded tape(1), Tabularasa(1), Unfrozen concerete(1),Puppet(1), Robot(1), Sponge(1)], Child as an entity that can be shaped (f=13, n=8) [Tree (4), Glass(1),Knife(1), Instrument(1), Dough (2), Remote Control (1), Water(2), Salt(1)], Child as the source of Happiness (f= 20, n= 16) [Love (3), Honey(1), Pepper(1), Flower(1), Child(1), Joy of the House(1), Smile(1), Dream(1), the Meaning of Life(1), Serenity(1), Snowflakei(1), Butterfly(1), Happiness(2), Music(1), Joy(1), Gluon(2)] , Child as a Guarantee of the Society and Future (f=4, n=4) [Four Season(1), Livelihood(1),Future (1), Pencil(1)], Child as a being in Need of Care and Attention (f=7, n=6) [Bamboo(1), Flower(2), Sapling(1), Fruit(1), Seed(1), Soil(1)] , Child as a Delevoping and Producing Being (f=8, n=7) [Encyclopedia(1), Gin(1), Philosopher (2),Sky(1), Light(1), Water(1), A Drop of water softly flowing (1)], Child as a Complex Structure that creates a problem (f=8, n=8) [Mother(1), Bothersome(1), Bomb(1), Dog(1), Machine(1), Parsley(1), Wind(1), Salad(1)], Child as an unknown mysterious being (f=8, n=8) [Cloud(1), Wave(1), İmpossible love(1), Purse(1), Box(1), A Foggy Road (1), A long Path(1)] and Child as a Valuable Asset (f=16, n=11) [Nose(1), Heaven(1), the treasure of the house (1), Eye(1), Rose(3), Beauty(1), Life(2), All we have(2), Snowdrops blooming in the winter(1), Angel(2), Breath(1)]. Results and Discussion This research was conducted to find out perceptions of parents about children in terms of education each of whom was a parent of a student and to collect these metaphors under certain conceptual categories by using metaphors that they had in relation to the concept of child. At the end of this research, 100 parents produced a total of 77 metaphors in relation to the concept of “child”. Dividing the metaphors that parents formed in relation to the concept of child into conceptual categories, we saw that first of the categories with the most metaphors was "child as a source of happiness", the second was “ child as a valuable asset” with 11 metaphors and the third were “ child as an entity that can be shaped”, “ child as a reflective” and “ child as a complex structure that creates a problem” with 8 metaphors. The category with the least metaphors was “ child as a guarantee of society and future”. 4 metaphors were produced for this category. Checking the field researches, in the study conducted by Kıldan, Ahi and Uluman (2012)there wasn’t any significant change in the philosophical basis of metaphors that candidate teachers formed about the concept of child and no significant difference was found between the philosophical basis of metaphors which candidate teachers formed in the last year of their education and program. In the study by Kuyucu, Sahin and Kapıcıoglu (2013) on pre-school teachers’ opinions in relation to the concept of child, 45 metaphors in 11 categories were developed by 100 pre-school teachers. According to the results of this research, metaphors of pre-school teachers in relation to the concept of child in terms of conceptual categories, the category with the most metaphors was “child as a raw material that can be shaped” and the category with the least metaphors was “child as a being in need of care and attention”.In the study conducted by Demirbas (2015) on the opinions of students in relation the concept of child in the department of child development, 62 metaphors in 10 different categories were developed by 169 students.Also in this research, when the metaphors developed by the students in the Department of child development were divided into conceptual categories, the category with the most metaphors was “ child as a raw material that can be shaped” and the category with the least metaphors was “ chils as a source of happiness”. This research provides important clues about how people perceive children as a parent. Comparing the results obtained in this research with those from the field studies, the perceptions towards the concept of child followed a more emotional course than university students and preschool teachers. In the previous studies in which the children were mostly defined by teachers and candidate teachers as “ an entity that can be shaped”, in this study they are perceived more as “ the source of happiness” and “ a valuable asset”. Accordingly, how you look at the concepts is the determinant of the meanings we attribute to them. It is our quantum perspective that creates the difference in perceptions. According to Deporte (1993), metaphors are among the methods that are used in quantum learning approach (Cited by Ayvaz Tuncel, 2015:293). As a result, the determinant of our perceptions about any concept - in particular our perception related to the concept of child- isn't only our being teacher, pre-service teacher or parents bul also positioning ourselves as active or passive in relation to this concept.