This ethnographic study investigates children's contributions to household work through the analysis of interview data and scan sampling data collected among 30 middle‐class dual‐earner families in Los Angeles, California. We discuss convergences and divergences between data collected with two independent methodologies: scan sampling and interviewing. Scan sampling data provide an overview of the frequency of children's participation in household work as well as the types of tasks they engaged in during data collection. Children's interview responses reflect their perceptions of their responsibilities, how they view family expectations regarding their participation in household work, and whether allowance is an effective motivator. Comparative analysis reveals that most children in our study spend surprisingly little time helping around the house and engage in fewer tasks than what they report in interviews. Within the context of children's minimal participation in household work, we find that allowance is not an effective motivator, but that children in families with access to paid domestic help tend to be less helpful than children in families without. We suggest that while most children are aware that their working parents need help, in some families, inconsistent and unclear expectations from parents negatively affect children's participation in household work.

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This ethnographic study of a Punjabi Sikh religious education program in the United States examines how different linguistic codes that constitute Punjabi heritage languages are tied to Sikh notions of moral personhood and ethno-religious community. This article analyzes two distinct activities: Gurbani (prayer recitation) and Sikh youth discussion classes. In Gurbani classes, children and youth are taught to perform verses from Sikh scriptures, which are written in an archaic form of Punjabi. Students are also socialized into prosodic and embodied features of prayer recitation that display respect and devotion to the scripture. While Gurbani classesorient students to the use of archaic Punjabi through spiritual practice, teachers in Sikh youth discussion classes discursively construct the everyday use of modern Punjabi as a moral imperative for the preservation and transmission of Sikh religion and culture in the future. Students articulate diverse perspectives on the importance of speaking Punjabi, and the question of who is responsible for language maintenance is debated. Together the analyses of the prayer classes and discussion classes reveal a view of heritage language as moral action that represents and socializes transnational and generational continuity and ethno-religious identification.