Finnish children’s questions while watching television with parents

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article explores parent–child interaction in television viewing situations. The focus of the analysis is on children’s questions regarding the on-going program and parents’ responses to children’s questions. The data consist of 122 questions in 28 television-viewing episodes in 16 Finnish families. Through questions, children treat parents as more knowledgeable regarding media portrayals but asking questions also gives children interactional power to steer the conversation and assess the information their parents provide. In their responses, the parents take the knowing position and explain media content and its relation to the real world. In the process, norms and values are mediated. We distinguish three orientations in parents’ responses: mediating television content, selecting the focus of response and attending to emotional cues. The paper will discuss the relationship of these activities to a larger social psychological phenomenon of parental mediation.