ABSTRACT

This segment of interaction, embedded in the most mundane daily activities of a Mexican family living in a rural, agrarian community of 700 people, illustrates the multifaceted role of sibling caregiving. Functional and adaptable, sibling care helps the family in its maintenance and survival. Siblings assist in socializing cultural ways of knowing and perceiving. Sibling caregivers select and promote detection of cultural practices within levels of shared care. Age and gender affect who plays or works together. These activities, whether involving groups or an individual, co-occur in the courtyard. Family members consider conflict and cooperation to be unavoidable and beneficial, both contributing to socializing members of the culture. Within this milieu, the social setting meets, shapes, and is shaped by the child. The primary question is not whether the social setting has or has not met the needs of the individual child, but whether the child assists the family in meeting its needs.