Theoretical perspectives and research in sociology, anthropology, sociolinguistics, and cultural psychology converge in recognizing the significance of children's time spent in various activities, especially in the family context. Knowing how children's time is deployed, however, only gives us a partial answer to how children acquire competence; the other part must take into account the culturally constructed meanings of activities, from the perspective of those who organize and direct children's daily lives. In this article, we report on a study of children's routine daily activities and on the meanings that parents attribute to them in six Western middle-class cultural communities located in Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States (N = 183). Using week-long time diaries kept by parents, we first demonstrate similarities as well as significant differences in children's daily routines across the cultural samples. We then present brief vignettes--"a day in the life" --of children from each sample. Parent interviews were coded for themes in the meanings attributed to various activities. Excerpts from parent interviews, focusing on four major activities (meals, family time, play, school- or developmentally related activities), are presented to illustrate how cultural meanings and themes are woven into parents' organization and understanding of their children's daily lives. The results of this mixed-method approach provide a more reliable and nuanced picture of children's and families' daily lives than could be derived from either method alone.

No abstract

One of the earliest challenges for infants and their parents is developing a diurnal sleep–wake cycle. Although the human biological rhythm is circadian by nature, its development varies across cultures, based in part on “zeitgebers” (German: literally “time‐givers”) or environmental cues. This study uses the developmental niche framework by Super and Harkness to address two different approaches to getting the baby on a schedule. 33 Dutch and 41 U.S. mothers were interviewed when their babies were 2 and 6 months old. A mixed‐methods analysis including counts of themes and practices as well as the examination of actual quotes shows that Dutch mothers emphasized the importance of regularity in the baby's daily life and mentioned practices to establish regular schedules for the baby's sleeping, eating, and time outside more than American mothers did. The U.S. mothers, in contrast, discussed regularity less often and when they did, they emphasized that their baby should develop his or her own schedule. Furthermore, actual daily schedules, based on time allocation diaries kept by the mothers, revealed greater regularity among the Dutch babies. Discussion focuses on how culture shapes the development of diurnal rhythms, with implications for “best practices” for infant care.

The developmental niche, a theoretical construct for the study of the child in cultural context, has been usefully applied to the analysis of environments of disabled individuals. In this article, the authors review the three components of the niche (settings of daily life, customs of care, and the psychology of the caretakers), with particular reference to issues of disability. Two case studies are presented as illustrations of the importance of parents' culturally constructed ideas, or ethnotheories, as either challenges or supports to the work of the occupational therapist. The article concludes with a consideration of cultural variability in parents' ideas of "successful development," with illustrations from research in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. The developmental niche framework is relevant to concepts of "habit" as used in occupational therapy. It is also helpful for considering how the environment of the disabled individual-including cultural assumptions about what constitutes an agenda for successful development-may be modified to promote full participation in meaningful activities in the community.

Universal aspects of early childhood development (ECD) are recognized globally, but cultural expectations of children’s competence vary widely across different domains, such as literacy and domestic responsibilities. The core challenge of ECD programs and policies is to integrate interventional goals with the biologically based developmental agendas of young children and the cultural expectations that shape their daily lives. This chapter presents a theoretical framework—the developmental niche—to help to clarify the issues involved in ECD across various cultural contexts, particularly in economically developing societies. We begin with a brief review of concept of culture as it applies to children and families, drawing from recent scholarship in psychology and anthropology. We then provide a description of the developmental niche as a framework for informing policy and improving program effectiveness. The final section illustrates the relevance of the developmental niche for ECD policy, using examples from several cultural regions.