This Introduction outlines key themes of the volume. The centrality of reflexivity is emphasised by its introduction, application, and arguably neglected status in much research with children. As the chapters are outlined, the reader is taken on a journey representative of the research process. This begins with content that explores ethical governance, followed by an examination of methodology and methods. The focus moves onwards through critical reflexive discussions of how particular voices are privileged and/or marginalised. Finally, through reflexive considerations of the emotional labour embedded in doing research with children and the possible mistakes we make along the way, we demonstrate the usefulness and adaptability of reflexivity as a research tool hitherto mostly overlooked in childhood research. The reader has the opportunity to see how this reflexive approach is applied across sensitive topics such as sex, gang membership, conflict, death, and disability in the international, empirical discussions offered here. This volume emphasises the need to make such reflexivity far more prevalent in research with children.

Reflexivity is a nebulous, complex, and expansive concept that calls for our ongoing acknowledgement and engagement with participants, selves, positions, research fields, and wider contexts. Furthermore, reflexivity requires the researcher to continually survey themself as an integrated part of the research landscape and recognise the effect that they have on all aspects of research, through the topics chosen to the questions asked and the knowledge produced.

We argue that research with children is often ethically, emotionally, and morally charged, and yet little evidence of this is to be found in journal articles, research books, and conference presentations. Perhaps this absence is in part due to prevalent discourses, which surround and immerse children in constructions of vulnerability that in turn dictate how we present our research discussions. This vulnerability rightly makes ethical practice paramount in our research and yet leaves little room for self-doubt, reflection, or contemplation of the moment-by-moment decisions we make in the field. As researchers, we meet the academic rigour of the discipline and are confident in presenting the ways in which we have privileged children’s voices but nonetheless, often remain silent in relation to our dilemmas, decision making, and any particular incidences that may occur.