child development

To Play or Not to Play: Diverse Motives for Latino and Euro‐American Parent–Child Play in a Children's Museum

Summary

There has been a continued study on the long term effects of child and parent interaction. Play is an important factor for child development and parent involvement helps learning potential. Past research concluded that parents who halve this view of play are more likely to play with their children than those who do not. This study investigated the prevalence of this view among Euro‐American and immigrant Latino parents of young children in order to illuminate the extent to which it uniquely and uniformly motivates parent-child play. Parents' models of play were assessed through interviews and naturalistic observations in a children's museum. The analysis revealed ethnic groups interacted less with their children when playing. It also revealed 56% of Latino parents attributed learning to play while 71% of Euro-American parents affirmed children learning through play. Both Latino and Euro-American parents incorporated didactic content when playing with their children. Within‐group analysis, however, revealed diversity in the ways that these play behaviors and beliefs came together to comprise parents' models of play. Discussion focuses on the social nature of play, the dynamic nature of culture, and the issue of individual subject validity.

Shows frequency of Latino and Euro‐American parents' beliefs about whether and how their child learned in the museum.

Citation: To Play or Not to Play: Diverse Motives for Latino and Euro‐American
Parent–Child Play in a Children's MuseumDibianca Fasoli, AllisonInfant
and Child Development, November 2014, Vol.23(6), pp.605-621