Discussing findings from three studies, this report focuses on questions mothers ask their children while looking at picture books and recent family photographs. In the first study, 30 mothers and their 12-, 15-, and 18-month-old children "read" a simple ABC book that had one picture for each letter in the alphabet. In the second study, 15 pairs of 18- to 38-month-old children and their mothers talked about a complex farm scene from a children's book. Findings of both studies indicate that memory demands made by mothers differed as a function of their child's age. Starting when their children were around 15 months of age, mothers began to demand responses involving recall and recognition memory. They also reduced demands if their child gave no response to questioning. Generally, mothers challenged the child and helped him or her to respond correctly. It was also found that almost every mother of a child 18 months old or younger at least once related something in a picture to some general aspect of the child's past experience. To examine how mothers would question young children about their memory for particular events in contrast to general experience, the third study involved observations of mothers and their 24- to 36-month-old children while they looked at family photograph albums. Findings revealed a very low frequency of specific memory questioning by the mothers. Children frequently were asked to describe, but not to recall. In all three studies, mothers showed a strong bias toward asking their children to report general knowledge rather than to recount specific events from personal past experience. (Implications of the findings are discussed.) (RH)