Describes a study of object play between Bantu women and their infants, focusing on how mothers instructed, or providing scaffolding for, their 6- to 12-month olds in the use of a simple toy. The study sample consisted of 14 mother-infant pairs from a well-baby clinic in Pretoria, South Africa, whose interactions were videotaped at least 4 times for a minimum of 8 weeks. Observations of the infants revealed a growing interest in the object as evidenced by time spent gazing at it and progression from exclusively solitary play with the toy to play that included their mothers. Mothers assisting their infants employed 4 different teaching methods: facilitating, or moving the object toward the infant; demonstrating how the toy worked; attracting attention with the toy itself; and forcing orientation, or placing parts of the toy in the infant’s hand. Over time, mothers depended less on facilitating and more on giving verbal instruction. As infants became more adept at playing with the toy, mothers changed their approach to elicit maximum performance from the infants, consistent with their perceptions of their children’s abilities. Future studies could clarify possible cultural differences in child-caretaker interactions and their effects on cognitive and linguistic development. While this article does not address Bantu-speaking refugees, the information about Mother-Child interaction among South African Bantu will be of use and interest to anyone dealing with parenting styles cross-culturally.
