Peer-reviewed article

A Mother’s Intentional Use of Serve and Return Interactions: A Start to Child Participation, Decolonized Parenting, and Child-led Play

Charmaine Bonello · 1 Apr 2023

Summary

Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001

This study examines how one mother in Malta used the 'Serve and Return' model of interaction to engage with her infant daughter aged 10-24 months. The mother's intentional practice of responsive, back-and-forth interactions led to child-led play, stronger learning opportunities, and more child participation in family life. The research tracked the mother's attitudes and understanding over 14 months through journals, recordings, and discussions with the researcher. The findings suggest that parents can be supported to develop high-quality interactions with their young children that promote healthy development.

Key points

A mother's intentional use of 'Serve and Return' interactions facilitated child-led playful interactions that maximized learning
The mother experienced a transformation point that led to a more sensitive and responsive attitude towards her infant
A bi-directional interaction loop developed between mother and child that promoted child participation and decolonized parenting practices
The study used 14 months of data including the mother's reflective journal, interaction recordings, and monthly video-recorded discussions
Findings highlight the need for counseling, support, training for parents and educators on quality adult-child interactions

Limitations

This is a single-case study of one mother-child dyad in Malta, so findings cannot be generalized to other families, cultures, or contexts. The study does not include a comparison group or control condition to assess the specific impact of the intervention relative to usual parenting practices.

Abstract

Amidst the large corpus of international research on the relevance and deficiency of quality adult-child interactions in the first years of a child’s life there seems to be limited knowledge on how adults can build their capacity to offer high-quality interactions in homes and early years settings. Recent neuroscientific evidence presents the “Serve and Return” (SR) model to promote the “practice” of successful interactions that help build a child’s brain on a larger societal scale. To this, the SR model takes center stage in the presented work to showcase the aftermath of its intentional use by one mother to promote quality interactions with her infant in Malta. This paper aims to explore: (1) the attitudes, knowledge, and understanding the mother adopts to initiate and develop successful SR style of interactions with her daughter (age: 10 to 24 months); and (2) the type of interactions that were facilitated through the mother’s intentional use of the SR model over time. The work is framed within Bowlby’s attachment theory, postcolonial theory, and a child’s rights lens. It draws on data from a fourteen-month study: the mother’s reflective journal, transcriptions of recordings interactions, and monthly video-recorded analytic discussions between the researcher and the mother. Findings locate a transformation point that led the mother to explore a more sensitive and responsive attitude, strengthen her understanding, and overcome challenges faced with SR interactions. A key result is how a bi-directional ‘loop’ developed and generated affordances of child-led playful interactions that maximized learning, promoted child participation, and decolonized parenting. Implications are discussed to address the need for counseling, support, and training for parents and educators and activism on quality interactions. Keywords: Serve and return, adult-child interactions, child-led play, decolonized parenting, child participation DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-12-05 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

Findings the Hub has extracted

Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.

DevelopmentParticipation

Problem

Limited knowledge on how adults can build capacity to offer high-quality serve-and-return interactions with infants in early childhood

Intervention: Mother's intentional use of the 'Serve and Return' model of interaction with her infant daughter, supported through researcher guidance and reflective practice
Population: One mother-infant dyad in Malta, with child aged 10-24 months

Key finding

Mother developed a more sensitive and responsive attitude towards her infant through intentional practice of serve-and-return interactions

Practitioner