A Window Into Different Cultural Worlds: Young Children's Everyday Activities in the United States, Brazil, and Kenya

Abstract

A powerful means to understand young children's normative development in context is to examine their everyday activities. The daily activities of 79 children (3 years old) were observed, for 20 hr each, in their usual settings. Children were selected from 4 cultural groups: European American and African American (Greensboro, United States), Luo (Kisumu, Kenya), and European descent (Porto Alegre, Brazil), evenly divided by social class. Examining children's naturally occurring engagement in school-relevant activities, both in and out of child care, revealed the importance of ecological context. The variation in activities was not explainable simply by cultural group (including race within the United States) or social class, but by the intersection of culture and class. The developmental implications of these findings are discussed.

Diferenças culturais e de gênero em conflitos de pré-escolares

“…Conway, Ryder, Tweed e Sokol (2001) comentam que a variação regional no interior de uma mesma nação é um precioso recurso para analisar relações interculturais que são normalmente estudadas em nível internacional. Da mesma forma, Tudge et al (2006) consideram que diferenças regionais dentro de um mesmo país, assim como realidades socioeconômicas diversas, podem ser elementos que determinam a formação de culturas distintas. Por essa razão, neste trabalho, usamos o termo cultura para designar diferentes modos de vida e estilos de criação de dois grupos de crianças.…”

Measuring Parental Beliefs about the Developmental Significance of Preschool Children’s Daily Activities: the Children’s Daily Activities-Parental Beliefs Scale

“…In these studies, the emphasis is on identifying different kinds of activities which make up the context of family and community life of young children (Dunst et al, 2000;Tudge et al, 2006). The daily activities constitute major sources of learning opportumities and experiences for children, and are expected to vary as a function of cultural and/or socioeconomic background (Dunst et al, 2000;Tudge et al, 2006). In other words, daily activities are assumed to represent instantiations of values and beliefs of cultural or social groups.…”

“…In other words, daily activities are assumed to represent instantiations of values and beliefs of cultural or social groups. Tudge et al (2006) for example, indicated that children with better educated parents were more likely to engage in activities which are assumed to prepare children for schooling, such as play with educational toys and conversations with adults.…”

“…In one stream of research, parental beliefs are mostly inferred from the type of activities prevailing in a certain community or social group, rather than being studied more directly. In these studies, the emphasis is on identifying different kinds of activities which make up the context of family and community life of young children (Dunst et al, 2000;Tudge et al, 2006). The daily activities constitute major sources of learning opportumities and experiences for children, and are expected to vary as a function of cultural and/or socioeconomic background (Dunst et al, 2000;Tudge et al, 2006).…”

“…Parental cultural values and beliefs regarding children, child development and child-rearing, have been associated with the nature of children's activities and the time spent in them (Harkness et al, 2011;Tudge et al, 1999Tudge et al, , 2006. They also play a critical mediating role regarding parental participation and practices (Harkness & Super, 2006;Parmar, Harkness, & Super, 2004;Savage & Gauvain, 1998;Suizzo, 2002Suizzo, , 2004Tudge et al, 1999Tudge et al, , 2006Tulviste, Mizera, De Geer, & Tryggvason, 2007), as they provide meaning to daily activities and to parent-child interactions in the context of the activities (Harkness et al, 2011;Parmar et al, 2008;Suizzo, 2002). For example, Harkness et al (2011) demonstrated that children who spend more time in developmental or school-related activity, have parents who emphasise this activity, especially in relation to cognitive development.…”