Cultural Differences Between Two Young Children

I interviewed two young girls on April 21, 2016. The girls are Lauren, who is six years old and Elizabeth, who is twelve years old. The two girls are sisters and they live in the same household. Lauren and Elizabeth share many characteristics, but they also differ in many areas such as communication styles, they have varying answers to the same question, and have different relationships with their peers and family. Language is a form of communication based on a system of symbols. Language can be spoken, written, or signed. Vocabulary increased drastically from childhood to adolescence. At the age of six, which is Lauren’s age, the average child knows about 14,000 words. Once a child reaches adolescence, that number increased drastically. …show more content…
Elizabeth said that her favorite place to visit was her family in Iowa. Lauren stated that her favorite place to visit was her Grandma and Grandpa’s house. The second question I asked was where would you like to visit someday? Elizabeth stated that she would like to visit Paris, France; Lauren would like to visit New Mexico. When I asked Lauren why she was interested in New Mexico, she told me that it is a state they are currently learning about in school. The third question I asked was who their best friend was. Both girls were very quick to answer this question; they both knew exactly who their best friend was. Elizabeth’s best friend is named Janie and Lauren’s best friend is named Julia. The fourth question I asked was what is your favorite thing to do with your mom? Elizabeth swiftly told me that she loved to shop with her mom. Lauren however preferred more intimacy; her favorite activity was to read and snuggle with her mom. The fifth question asked was what is your favorite thing to do with your dad? Elizabeth was very happy to say that she loved watching her favorite cartoon, Regular Show, with her father. Lauren’s response was quite similar to the previous one; her favorite activity is snuggling with her …show more content…
Elizabeth shows interest in becoming a wedding planner and Lauren shows interest in becoming a basketball coach, despite having any knowledge of how basketball is played. The next question I asked was if they thought they would get married, and if so, where will they get married? Elizabeth thinks that yes, she will get married and it will be in Minnesota, her home state. Lauren also believes she will get married and she thinks she will get married in a church. The eighth question I asked was if they were interested in having kids and how many they wanted. Elizabeth thinks she wants around two or three children, but she has no preference on the genders of them. Lauren, however, would like two female children. The ninth question was where do you want to live when you are older? Elizabeth would like to stay in Minnesota, but Lauren would like to move to Iowa. The tenth question I asked was what is one of your greatest talents? Elizabeth demonstrated that she was very good at singing by singing me one of her favorite songs. Lauren showed me her favorite drawing in her booklet to prove that she is very talented with