Chinese mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in toddler play activity: type variations and gender differences

Socioeconomic Status and Physical Activity among Mothers of Young Children in an Asian City: The Mediating Role of Household Activities and Domestic Help

“…Playing together as a family was not apparent from our results. A study of Chinese parents and their play with toddler children (i.e., slightly younger than our sample) identified that mothers and fathers engaged in different amounts and types of play with their children, and this varied according to the child's sex [34]. For example, overall, mothers played more with their children, but mothers tended to play social games with daughters while fathers tended to engage in physical play with sons [34].…”

“…A study of Chinese parents and their play with toddler children (i.e., slightly younger than our sample) identified that mothers and fathers engaged in different amounts and types of play with their children, and this varied according to the child's sex [34]. For example, overall, mothers played more with their children, but mothers tended to play social games with daughters while fathers tended to engage in physical play with sons [34]. Stratification of analysis by sex of the child in the current study was not appropriate due to the small sample size and the fact that more than 60% of the sample had two or more children in a household of different ages.…”

Differences in how mothers and fathers support children playfulness

“…Due to gender, culture, and personality differences, play interactions of mothers and fathers differ (i.e., Fletcher et al, 2013;Lin et al, 2019;Paquette & Dumont, 2013;Stgeorge & Freeman, 2017;Waldman-Levi, Finzi-Dottan, et al, 2019). However, conceptual and methodological differences resulted in unclear evidence of whether parents do differ in how they support their child's playfulness, and if those differences are evident in children playfulness (i.e., Cabrera et al, 2017;Caughy et al, 2020;Fletcher et al, 2013;Menashe-Grinberg & Atzaba-Poria, 2017).…”

“…Playfulness is a child's disposition to play and is considered a personality trait in adults (Bundy & Du Toit, 2019;Proyer, 2012;Skard & Bundy, 2008). Several studies have shown mothers and fathers play differently with their child (i.e., Lin, Xie, & Li, 2019;StGeorge & Freeman, 2017;Waldman-Levi, Finzi-Dottan, & Cope, 2019), and their contribution to children development differ as well (i.e., Fletcher, StGeorge, & Freeman, 2013;Kwon, Jeon, Lewsader, & Elicker, 2012;Lin et al, 2019;Paquette & Dumont, 2013).…”

“…Fathers tend to be more physically active, favouring rough-and-tumble play, competitive, and exhibit age-mate types of behaviours (Fletcher et al, 2013;Paquette & Dumont, 2013;StGeorge & Freeman, 2017;StGeorge, Fletcher, & Palazzi, 2017;StGeorge et al, 2015). In contrast to fathers, mothers' playstyle is more structured; they tend to engage their children in educational and object exploration type of play while exhibiting empathy, guidance, and scaffolding strategies (Kwon et al, 2012;Lin et al, 2019;Lincoln, Russell, Donohue, & Racine, 2017; Popp & Thomsen, 2017; Waldman-Levi, Finzi-Dottan, et al, 2019). Mother's and fathers' contributions to their children's development differ too.…”