**4. Final considerations**

accordingly to the following categories: centered in the self, centered in the child, or centered

The data indicate the convergence between the strategies used by mothers and grandmothers, first regarding the ones linked to the centered in the self category, secondly to the ones giving emphasis to factors associated to the context, and finally, to everything that concerns exclu‐ sively to the child's characteristics. These data are in agreement to the study of Moinhos et al. (2007), Bandeira et al. (2009), Diniz e Salomão (2010),, in which the most reported strategy was the one regarding the attributions from their role as primary caretakers and main family reference for the child. Those mothers and grandmothers believe the primary caretaker's role that was given to them by society makes them responsible for providing affection and daily attention to the children. It is necessary to note that such way of thinking stood out in the moment they watched their children and grandchildren being taken away from their daily lives and were living in a shelter institution, temporarily, for their ability to protect them, and educate them, was being questioned from the social and judicial standpoint, according to the

To what concern the strategies centered in the child, it is noted that mothers and grandmothers delegate to their children and grandchildren the responsibility to develop certain qualities, as

These statements also show that the participants transfer to their children and grandchildren the responsibility to reach the socialization goals designed by them. If, on one hand, it implies the notion of an active child who is capable of searching its own self-maximization, on the other hand, it suggests that the mothers' and grandmothers' comprehension of how the acquisition of abilities in the child socialization process takes place, chiefly in the early years,

Centered in the self 48 55 Centered in the context 28 29 Centered in thechild 24 16

**Table 3.** Response percentage of mothers and grandmothers in socialization strategies categories.

**Mães (n= 42) Avós (n=38) % %**

in the context.

124 Parenting in South American and African Contexts

child social protection legislation.

illustrated in some statements.

"*It is necessary that they study..." (M2)*

*"Study a lot to reach their goals..." (M10)*

*"Their dedication to the studies..." (M13)*

*"Study hard, have a good husband, and a good job..." (M5)*

**Categories**

The present study aimed at approaching in an exploratory fashion the socialization goals of mothers and grandmothers of children in shelter institutions that lived in the North region in Brazil. Such aspects that constitute the parental ethnotheories in this society and culture were approached from evidences regarding what these caretakers long for their children and grandchildren, and the strategies planned by them to achieve these purposes.

In this sense, the results obtained bring contributions to the scarce literature destined to the discussion of this particular subject. Nonetheless, it is necessary to note some limitations of this study, such as the size of the sample. The parental cognition about the socialization goals were studied through their responses to two open questions, which demanded the analysis of the content of the participants' responses. Although the procedure for analyzing the content has been used in several investigations and are bringing relevant and consistent results, new instruments might be developed and/or adapted to be used in future studies, with bigger groups of parents (mother and father) and grandparents (grandmothers and grandfathers), including other regions of Brazil. Hence, the cultural models of parenthood of Brazilian parents may be better understood, as well as important aspects of the child development context that are built nowadays, enabling the comparison to the results from other cultures. In addition, other similar studies may stimulate more contextualized investigations, therefore, open new paths for the research of cultural dimensions on the human development.

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Socialization Goals of Mothers and Grandmothers of Children in Institutional Shelter Situation in the North of Brazil

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[13] Keller, H., Voelker, S., & Yovsi, R. D. (2005). Conceptions of parenting in different cultural communities. The case of west african nso and northern german women. *So‐*

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Mother-

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Another aspect to be mentioned is the disclosure of the thoughts of caretakers of children who were withdrawn from the family living, their belief systems and moral standards, expectations or socialization goals that mothers and grandmothers have about how their children and grandchildren are and/or how they are going to be in the future. These pieces of information are important to the authorities, managers, technicians and educators that work in the shelter institution field, for they help to understand about the quality of care and possible influences on the child development.
