Julia Brannen is Professor of Sociology of the Family, Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, UK. She has researched and written about family lives of parents, children and young people in both Britain and Europe and has a particular interest in the relation between paid work and family life. She has published widely on these topics and is co-founder and co-editor of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology. Peter Moss has been a researcher for many years at the Thomas Coram Research Unit and is Professor of Early Childhood Provision at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK. Ann Mooney is a Senior Research Officer at the Thomas Coram Research Unit at the University of London, UK. She has extensive research experience and has undertaken studies on maternal employment, childcare and informal care.

• Setting the Scene Changing Childhoods Across Three Generations of Women Mothers' and Fathers' Work and Care Practices Over the Generations Motherhood: Intergenerational Transmission and Negotiation Timetabling, Talk and Transmission: Fatherhood Across the Generations Intergenerational Transfers and Cultures of Transmission Towards a Typology in Intergenerational Relations: Processes of Reproduction and Innovation Concluding Reflections