Talk to me mommy

Even though a lot of mothers work outside the home, they still carry the primary responsibility of caring for the children, as well as for organizing and attending their activities. During those times with your children, what do you talk about? Your conversations may have more of an impact than you think.

Researchers in Texas Tech University’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies are studying parent-child conversations, particularly those between mothers and their children.

“Previous studies have shown that interactions between caregivers and children are important for children’s cognitive and social-emotional development,” said Sarah Kulkofsky, Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator and an associate professor. “Parent-child conversations are of particular importance.”

Researchers are specifically interested in the conversations between mothers and their children, and they need participants. Now through March, they would like to have mother-child duos join The Home Visit Project.

“We wanted to keep the gender of the parent consistent, so we’re just focusing on moms,” Kulkofsky said. “The few studies that have looked at the dads’ role have shown there is some difference between fathers and mothers in how they talk with their children.

You can learn more about this study and others being conducted in the Cognition and Communication Development Lab, by visiting their website http://www.webpages.ttu.edu/skulkofs/about/research.htm.