Children's Initiative in Contributions to Family Work in Indigenous-Heritage and Cosmopolitan Communities in Mexico

Abstract

This article addresses cultural differences in children's initiative in helping in their home. Many 6- to 8-year-old children from an Indigenous-heritage community in Guadalajara, Mexico, were reported to engage, on their own initiative, in complex work for the benefit of the whole family (such as tending younger siblings, cooking, or running errands). In contrast, few children from a cosmopolitan community in Guadalajara, in which families had extensive experience with Western schooling and associated practices, were reported to contribute to family household work, and seldom on their own initiative. They were more often reported to be involved in activities managed by adults, and to have limited time to play, compared with the children in the Indigenous-heritage community, who were often reported to have plenty of time for free play and often planned and initiated their own after-school activities. The differences in children's contributions on their own initiative support the idea that children in some Indigenous American communities have opportunities and are expected and allowed to learn with initiative by observing and pitching in to collaborative endeavors of their families and communities.

Culture, Learning, and Development and the Natural World: The Influences of Situative Perspectives

“…For example, Barbara Rogoff, with various colleagues, has conducted research focused on children's attention and participation in work across Indigenous heritage communities in rural and cosmopolitan Mexico and White middle-class communities in the United States (e.g., Alcala, Rogoff, Mejia-Arauz, Coppens, & Dexter, 2014;Rogoff, 2012Rogoff, , 2014Rogoff, Paradise, Arauz, Correa-Ch avez, & Angelillo, 2003). Often this research suggests that results may have implications for communities that have similar experiences, but these similarities cannot be presumed.…”

The real thing: preschoolers prefer actual activities to pretend ones

“…However, in an earlier time in America, and still today in traditional societies around the world, children pretend much less. Instead, they often work alongside adults, engaging in practical life tasks (Alcalá, Rogoff, Mejía‐Arauz, Coppens, & Dexter, ; Gaskins, , ; Lancy, ). They tend younger siblings (alloparenting), sometimes all day and far from adult surveillance, and they provide instrumental help in gathering and preparing food (Lancy, ; ).…”

“…Given that this situation for children has radically changed in developed Western societies (Alcalá et al., ), here we asked whether the children themselves prefer pretend play to real activities. Children were asked to choose between pretend and real versions of nine different activities, and justifications for their choices were recorded.…”

New Studies of Children's Work, Acquisition of Critical Skills, and Contribution to the Domestic Economy

“…Rogoff () and colleagues (Alcalá et al. ) have documented the transition from indigenous Mayan communities where modernization and acculturation have been minimal to “cosmopolitan,” urban communities nearby. In the former, children eagerly do chores; in the latter, they are actively prevented from helping.…”