The Mother's Magazine: moral media for an emergent domestic pedagogy, 1833–1848

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of selected passages from The Mother's Magazine, one of the first periodicals for women published in the USA. Of particular interest are selections that highlight desirable maternal characteristics and those that described the intended pedagogical experiences within the domestic sphere. The layout, overarching themes and content of specific articles provide a gateway to discern contributors' attempts at moral regulation. The authors facilitated a character education initiative to ensure that both mother and child would be dutiful and thoughtful Christian citizens. There is also a focus to secure the proliferation of industrious, gendered subjects. It could be argued that the periodical marks the transition from a Calvinist to a Lockean conception of childhood. More accurately, the magazine utilises modern methods of childrearing while still adhering to an evangelical ideology that both reinforces traditional power structures and redefines the role of mother for the emerging nuclear family.     

Welfare-to-Work Single Mothers' Perspectives on Parent Involvement in Head Start: Implications for Parent–Teacher Collaboration

Single mothers' perspectives on selecting child care reflect their experiences of the significance of parent–teacher collaboration in a Head Start context. Mothers spoke of their motivations for selecting child care, their experiences of their relationships with Head Start teachers, and how their self-development and learning were enhanced by interactions with Head Start staff. Such collaboration has positive effects for their children, their development as parents, and their development as individuals. Implications of their perspectives for teacher best practices are drawn.     

汉藏“二母争子”故事浅析

＂二母争子＂故事在汉藏两族人民中广泛流传。虽然两族人民所处地域不同,文化与教育相异,然而这一题材的故事不同之中却存在诸多相同。本文将对汉藏两族此类故事进行比较,发掘其中的异同。     

Social capital and home literacy engagement: case studies of low-SES single mothers' access to literacy resources

Drawing on the theory of social capital, this paper explores how difference in mothers' social networks might impact on low‐SES' children's literacy development at home. A cross‐case analysis of the influence of two low‐SES single‐mothers' social networks on their children's home literacy practices suggests that difference in mother's social capital has a disparate impact on their access to literacy resources, their home literacy engagement with their children, and their interaction/connection with school teachers and contributes to their children's differential school literacy achievement. The findings suggest that for low‐SES children to achieve school success, parents must be able to access resources that support their ability to engage in literacy activities that align with those valued in the school. Therefore, there is a need for schools and teachers to provide not only services that allow more networking opportunities but also support to understand school‐literacy practices and expectations for low‐SES families, especially single‐parents who might be more socially isolated.     

Mothers’ Depressive State ‘Distorts’ the Ratings of Depression they give for their Sons with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

Depression is highly prevalent in children who have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), potentially confounding accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. Although information about the depressive status of a child is often collected from parents, there is evidence of distortion in parental assessments of their offspring’s depression. This distortion was investigated in a sample of 132 mothers of boys with an ASD. Results indicated that, as predicted from previous studies, there was a significant correlation between the depressive state of the mothers and the ratings they gave for their sons’ depression. However, in contradiction to the expected influence direction, mothers who were minimally depressed under-estimated their sons’ depression when cross-validated by structured clinical interviews for depression conducted by a third party, rather than mothers who were more severely depressed exaggerating their sons’ depression. Implications for clinical assessment of the presence of depression in boys with an ASD are discussed.     

Do mothers and fathers perceive their child’s academic potential in a similar way?

The mothers and fathers (n?=?43) of third- and sixth-grade children were asked to assess their child’s academic potential in comparison with the child’s earlier competence and with that of her/his peers. In the interpersonal domain, the mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of their child’s academic potential were related to each other, especially in mathematics, already when the child was in the third grade. Conversely, in the intrapersonal domain, the mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions were more consistent when assessing the sixth-grade than the third-grade children’s academic potential. These findings suggest that the normative feedback received from school tends to unify parental perceptions of their child’s academic potential as the child proceeds through school, even when the parents assess their child’s individual advancement.