IMMIGRANT INDIAN MOTHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PLAY AND PLAY’S RELATIONSHIP TO CHILDREARING GOALS: A CASE STUDY
Open Access
- Author:
- Sengupta, Nandini
- Graduate Program:
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 04, 2016
- Committee Members:
- Dr. James E. Johnson, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dr. James E. Johnson, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Dr. Lynn C. Hartle, Committee Member
Dr. Matthew E. Poehner, Committee Member
Dr. Maryellen Schaub, Outside Member
Dr. Michael M. Patte, Special Member - Keywords:
- early childhood and play
immigrant mothers
childrearing goals - Abstract:
- Abstract This study investigates how traditional Indian culture manifests itself in the social setting of the United States (U.S.), paying particular attention to play activities, as well as understandings of play, from Indian immigrant mothers’ perspectives. More specifically, this study considers how Indian immigrant mothers describe their parenting goals and practices, as well as how play in its various forms may relate to the mothers’ childrearing goals. The data were generated through the qualitative method of the case study. The study’s findings suggest that, three immigrant Indian mothers recognize the restrictive view of play’s value in their children’s lives: they value school and life success and see play as a way to help with this. The participating mothers primarily consider play as a tool to stimulate their children’s learning and development. The mothers actively engage in their children’s play practices as facilitators, and they continuously try to improve their children’s skills through play and play-like activities. Equally importantly, the mothers see play as integrated with learning via specific play activities. The mothers accordingly tend to focus on their children’s learning outcomes rather than play itself. For this reason, the three immigrant mothers value play and offer a variety of ways to support and enhance their children’s playful learning.