Fathers' stimulation of toddlers' cognitive development contributes to children's executive function skills at five years of age

This multi-method study examined mothers' and fathers' cognitive stimulation during parent-child interactions and toddlers' moral regulation (assessed via parent reports) as predictors of their executive functioning skills approximately 21/2 years later. Forty children (23 girls and 17 boys) and their parents participated in both timepoints. Children's moral regulation and fathers' cognitive stimulation emerged as unique predictors of children's performance on the Flexible Item Selection Task. For the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task, a significant interaction was found for toddlers' moral regulation and fathers' cognitive stimulation such that children low in moral regulation were more greatly influenced by fathers' parenting behaviour than children high in moral regulation. These findings suggest that fathers' stimulation of children's cognitive development works in combination with children's moral behaviour to predict their executive functioning skills during early childhood. Future research on parenting should continue to include fathers given the important socializing role that they play in children's development.