In order to enhance the cultural responsivity of supports offered by ECE programs to the rising numbers of children from Latino backgrounds, a foundational understanding of the culturally-nuanced beliefs, values, and reported practices of Latino families towards early language and learning is needed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide this information for the largest subgroup of young Latinos in the US: children of Mexican immigrant families from lower-income homes. Thirty-Five Mexican mothers of toddler-aged children participated in semi-structured interviews to gather information on children's everyday socialization experiences. Themes relevant to children's development were identified for each of the components of the activity setting framework (Gallimore, Goldenberg, & Weisner, 1993): underlying cultural values and beliefs regarding language and learning, activity types, activity participants, activity goals, and social scripts of the activities. The findings offer new information on how families support early development of children's communication skills, in particular, and also align with and extend previous research with Mexican families. Moreover, several strengths of families in supporting development were revealed, including a focus on tight-knit families that supported collective child rearing, conduct and social behavior, personal identities, educational success, language learning, and Spanish and English language acquisition. This study has implications for ECE programs that serve families of Mexican immigrant origin, in terms of addressing families’ strengths in ways that appreciate their sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds and best prepare their children for the expectations of the mainstream educational system in the US. © 2018 Elsevier Inc.

Early childhood education Latino Toddlers Socialization Mexican immigrant Language development

cultural value language development immigrant English (language) toddler human socialization communication skill qualitative research childhood Hispanic semi structured interview female Infant Mexican Child Rearing clinical article identity Article human experiment expectation academic success Child