The ways in which fathers and mothers communicate with and teach their 6-month-old first-born infants were compared. Twenty-two white, middle class mothers and fathers were videotaped interacting with their infants (11 male, 11 female) on 10 tasks. Trained observers coded the parents' interaction with their infants on the following variables: physical contact, social/verbal stimulation, object/material play, effectiveness, responsiveness, and teaching behavior. Results indicated that both mothers and fathers used more physical contact with their male infants and more object/material play with their female infants. While mothers exhibited more social/verbal behaviors with their infants than fathers did, fathers had more effect on female infants than on male infants. Finally, mothers were found to be more likely than fathers to use social/verbal attention-getting behaviors when teaching their infants. (MP)