| Abstract: | Mothers' views of what they teach their preschoolers in everyday situations and their beliefs about the importance of teaching particular kinds of skills were explored. Middle class mothers of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children were asked to identify situations/activities in which they intentionally set out to teach their child and situations/activities in which teaching occurs incidental to some other goal. Most mothers reported teaching both cognitive/academic and social/life skills, but they differed in the relative emphases they put on each type. Few mothers spontaneously reported teaching metacognitive skills, although when specifically asked whether they taught any "learning-to-learn" skills they indicated that they did. Nevertheless, the skills they identified were lower-level process skills such as listening and paying attention rather than higher-level self-regulatory skills such as planning and monitoring progress. Some educators have questioned the extent to which parents are aware of and take advantage of the opportunities for teaching afforded by everyday interactions with their children. The present results suggest that this need not be a concern with respect to middle class families in the cognitive and social domains but that it is of concern in the metacognitive domain. It seems clear that there should be an increased emphasis in parent education programs and materials on how and why to foster metacognition. |
