‘Talk, talk and more talk’: Parental perceptions of young children's information practices related to their hobbies and interests

Introduction. This article explores parental perceptions of young children's everyday life information practices related to their hobbies and interests. Method. Thirty-one parents of children between the ages of four and eight years old completed a survey about their children's hobbies and interests. Questions were related to the nature of the children's activities and the ways in which children seek, use, and share information related to their hobbies and interests. Analysis. Survey responses were analysed for common themes in information seeking, information use and information sharing. Information practices of children with intense interests were compared with information practices of children with more typical hobbies and interests. Results. Findings indicate that young children exhibit a heavy reliance on interpersonal interactions for information seeking and information sharing, while information use is more likely to be an individual activity. Children with intense interests did not engage in information practices of a different nature from those with more typical hobbies and interests. Conclusion. The findings of this study indicate that children as young as four years of age engage in observable information practices related to their hobbies and interests. Additional research is needed to better understand young children's everyday life information practices.