Parent-Child Participation in Planning Children’s Activities Outside of School in European and Latino Families

This longitudinal research used a sociocultural perspective to examine planning competence in the everyday experiences of European American and Latino children from 7 to 9 years of age. Data on children's participation in planning their activities outside of school, parental expectations about children's planning competence, and children's planning in the classroom were collected yearly from Grades 2 to 4 from 140 children and their mothers, and the children's teachers. Results indicate that decision-making practices and parental expectations change with development and vary by ethnicity. Decision making at home was related to children's classroom planning; however, the nature of these relations changed over middle childhood. Results are discussed in terms of cultural and parental contributions to the development of planning skills.