Socializing Children through Language

Book excerpt: Using psychological theory as a basis, Socializing Children through Language examines naturally occurring conversations between mothers and children in the context of achievement, self-regulation, food consumption, and television watching to illustrate how families of different socioeconomic means interact and discuss a variety of topics in the home. Specifically, the chapters in this book draw on enhanced audio recordings of over 40 families across a range of education and income levels to investigate how mothers' language relates to child behaviors over time. The unique pairing of this digital observer data with empirical data on achievement tests, regulation tasks, and parenting information on the home environment collected one year later presents an altogether revolutionary way to understand and think about how family socialization works across socioeconomic levels. - Focuses on mother–child talk about desires, thoughts, and emotions - Studies the relationship between math talk and children's math knowledge and achievement - Emphasizes the management language used by mothers to guide the behavior of their children - Explores children's media environment in the home, the conversations that occur during digital technology use, and whether it relates to children's outcomes - Considers food-related discussions in families prior to and during mealtimes, including how parents and children express food likes and dislikes, hunger, mealtime routines and expectations, and explanations about nutritional values