The weaning period, in which complementary foods are introduced into the infant's diet, can be challenging, with dislike of novel foods known to be common. However, even though at six months (the current recommended age for the introduction of complementary foods) most infants are able to feed themselves with graspable pieces of food, the majority…

Parents play a pivotal role in their children's education and literacy is one of the areas where parents have the relatively simple facilities, such as books or other reading materials, to become involved and to make a significant difference. In addition to reading with their children, parents can also show them that they value reading as a…

Parental support with children's learning is considered to be one pathway through which socio-economic factors influence child competencies. Utilising a national longitudinal sample from the Millennium Cohort Study, this study examined the relationship between home learning and parents' socio-economic status and their impact on young children's…

There are gender differences in educational attainment amongst British children and there is evidence that these differences emerge early in life. In this study we investigate whether boys' and girls' early educational attainment levels are similarly related to disadvantage in the family environment. This study uses survey data from the Millennium…

Discusses the educative role of the family in pre-industrial England focusing specifically the role of the mother. Provides quotes from diaries and other contemporary sources of information to document the points being made. (GEA)

Discussed from a psychoanalytic perspective are areas of special difficulty in the phases of a three-year training observation of an infant and his family under the supervision of a 79-year-old child psychoanalyst and teacher. Specific attention is given to the child in relation to his family, the role of the observer in containing mother/infant…

A study was made of the "cognitive demands" made of children during spontaneous conversations with their teachers at nursery school and their mothers at home. Teachers' talk contained a higher proportion of cognitive demands and "testing" demands than did mothers' talk; however, the hourly rate of these demands was higher in…