This article explores belonging as social interaction in relation to power and values. Power has both positive and negative aspects. We view children as active agents with the power to include or exclude others, create space for each other or set boundaries. The article shows how children’s powers are limited by education staff’s structural power and discusses the ethical and pedagogical implications of children’s and staff’s use of power. We find that well-considered use of power may widen children’s horizons and provide them with social opportunities that they would otherwise miss. The data consist of video observation and interviews with children and teachers in three Early Childhood Education and Care settings in Norway. The article uses a lifeworld hermeneutical approach to study children’s belonging as a complex and sometimes ambiguous phenomenon. The article shows that children’s possibilities to position themselves and belong are made possible and limited by their social group via relational and structural power. By becoming aware of these contradictory tendencies, teachers can provide children with a variety of social experiences that promote belonging, which requires knowledge of how groups are formed by dynamic power relations that condition different social experiences.

本文探讨了与权力和价值观有关的作为社会互动的归属感。权力既有积极的方面也有消极的方面。我们将儿童视为积极的行动者，有权包括或排斥他人，为彼此创造空间或设定界限。本文说明了儿童的权力如何受到教育人员的结构性权力的限制，并讨论了儿童和员工使用权力的伦理和教学意义。我们发现，考虑周全的使用权力可以扩大孩子们的视野，并为他们提供他们否则会错过的社会机会。数据包括在挪威的三个幼儿教育和照护机构中进行的视频观察以及对儿童和教师的采访。本文使用生活世界的诠释学方法来研究儿童的归属感，这是一个复杂的，有时是模棱两可的现象。该文章表明，儿童的定位自己和属于自己的可能性成为可能，并受到他们的社会群体通过关系和结构力量的限制。通过意识到这些矛盾的倾向，教师可以为孩子们提供各种促进归属感的社会经验，这需要了解如何通过条件不同的社会经验的动力关系来形成群体。