Abstract:

Lullabies are anonymous folk music products that are the first example of verbal communication between mother and baby in the historical process. The mother can express her feelings and thoughts to her baby through lullabies. Lullabies make it easier to express feelings and thoughts because they have an easy to say and simple discourse. It is thought that lullabies have effects on the development of babies and in the cultural context. The aim of this study is to examine the mothers’ use of lullaby within the context of child development and culture. The study group was determined via snowball sampling method. 30 mothers, who resided in Konya province, had at least two children and were volunteers to participate in the study, were included in the study. In order to examine the use of lullaby within the context of child development and culture, the face-to-face interviews were carried out with mothers by using semi-structured interview forms, which were developed by the researchers and were finalized in accordance with the expert’s views. Also, with the aim of determining the lullabies used by the mothers, the mothers were asked to sing the lullaby they used most frequently and they were recorded using a tape recorder. maxqda qualitative data analysis program was used for the data evaluation. As a result of the research, it was seen that mothers defined lullaby in various ways. However, mothers stated that lullabies contribute to a secure attachment between mother and child, calm their children, support emotional and mental development, facilitate the transition to sleep, contribute to the realization of cultural transfer, and they mostly learn lullabies from their own mother. The mothers stated that when choosing a lullaby for their children, they pay attention to the meaning of the words, whether it is suitable for the child, whether it is emotionally and spiritually good for the child, whether it is suitable for the age of the child. Mothers stated that they sing lullabies in preparation for sleep, when they want to control aggression in their child and show their love. In line with the findings obtained from the research, child developmentalists who play an active role in the health and development of children should include lullabies more in their prenatal and postnatal counseling and intervention programs, informing mothers about this issue and encouraging them to sing lullabies at the regional level for the long-term effect of singing lullabies. It is recommended to identify the use of lullabies and to conduct more interdisciplinary research on lullabies and child development.

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