Father-child food talk: Commensality and socialization

To better understand fathers’ unique role in socializing children we audio-recorded 25 pairs of U.S. fathers and young children (aged 1–12 years) while they were sharing food as a dyad. We analyzed the naturally occurring conversation to identify the communicative practices present in these one-on-one moments of commensality, focusing on the role of fathers as sole parent in the encounter. Our analysis revealed four main themes in father-child interaction surrounding food: Instrumental Talk, Pedagogic Talk, Social Talk, and Play Talk. Each theme consisted of several sub-themes. In our discussion of these practices we explicate the substantial instrumental and relational work that fathers do with children in brief food-related experiences.