Pacifiers and Fairies: Family Culture as Risk Management—a German Example

Approaching culture as a set of practices that help cope with problems, I explore the emergence of the Schnullerfee, a fairy that helps wean children from pacifiers (Br., dummies) in German-speaking areas. I analyze how parents invoke the dummy fairy in order to deal with their own needs and those of their child, especially as they navigate conflicting medical recommendations. Drawing on my ethnographic research on German family culture, and analyzing contemporary medicalization discourses, I consider practical strategies of risk management in childrearing and the question of shifting authorities in family life.