Parents’ Work and Family Roles: Their Contribution to Children's Learning about Work

Abstract

Parents’ work and family roles influence their children in many ways. An often overlooked impact is on children's developing ideas about work. This paper reviews research on young children's developing ideas about work, particularly of unpaid duties in the home. It argues that children learn about work and cultural values, ownership of work, work relationships and the links between work and money from their observations and experiences of household chores. The contribution of parents’ paid and unpaid work roles to children's learning about work and the processes by which children learn about paid and unpaid work are discussed, as are the implications for early childhood professionals in their direct and indirect teaching of young children about the world of work.