This study examined the associations between maternal emotion framing and mother–child relationship quality and children's emotional and social competence. Sixty‐one mothers and their preschool children (33 boys) completed dyadic and individual measures. Observations were made of mother–child synchrony and maternal emotion framing. Children's emotion understanding and receptive vocabulary was assessed via individual interviews. Teachers reported on children's social skills. Results show that maternal emotion framing, particularly mildly positive framing, significantly contributes to children's emotion understanding. Children in higher quality relationships with their mothers had better emotion understanding. Therefore, support was found for the roles of relationship quality and maternal emotion framing in children's emotional competence. Unexpectedly, fewer significant associations were found between maternal emotion framing, synchrony and children's social competence. The implications of examining emotion framing and relationship quality as correlates of children's emotional and social competence are discussed.

In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three- to five-year olds (n = 17) in a university-sponsored preschool programme. Analyses using interpretive phenomenology indicated that preschool children view secrets with a sense of intimacy, and they reserve disclosure for a particular person, usually their best friend. There is a sense of ownership surrounding secrets for preschool children, and hence, secrets are regarded as something special to them. Furthermore, secrets are described as something that gives preschool children happiness and are often associated with games or pretend play. Finally, the analysis addresses children's secret hiding places and the types of concepts preschool children consider as a secret.

In this qualitative study, interviews about children's secret hiding places were conducted with 3–5-year-olds (n = 17) in a university sponsored preschool programme using art narratives. Since prior studies indicate that children understand the concept of a secret as early as five and that they associate secrets with hiding places, the purpose of this study was to look specifically at preschool children's experiences within their secret spaces. Analyses using interpretive phenomenology indicated that preschool children view secret hiding places with a sense of complexity, and they reserve certain areas as off limits to everyone, even in terms of the knowledge that these places exist. Consistent with a sociocultural framework, hiding places appear to serve individual, relational, and collaborative purposes, and children show heightened agency when deciding the function of a particular place. Children also relate secrets with secret hiding places and describe both with excitement, imagination, and intimacy. Finally, children's conceptualisations of secret hiding places are discussed in relation to the sociocultural perspective and the implications for children's social and emotional development.

Background: Malnutrition remains a significant public health issue in Kenya. Multisectoral Nutrition Governance (MNG) is increasingly being acknowledged as a catalyst for enhancing nutrition programming and outcomes. Effective MNG establishes policies, systems, and mechanisms that enable coordinated, adequately funded, and sustainable nutrition actions across sectors; however, its understanding and progress assessment remain inadequate. Objective: This study aimed to qualitatively assess the status of MNG and propose strategies to strengthen MNG mechanisms for improved nutrition actions and outcomes in Kenya. We hypothesized that effective performance across the MNG domains is associated with effective multisectoral nutrition actions and improved nutrition outcomes. Design: This study used a qualitative design to assess the MNG status over the past 10 years (2012–2023). Nineteen program managers and officers from government and non-governmental institutions implementing nutrition at the national level were included. Data collection was conducted between January and March 2024 through key informant interviews (KIIs). Thematic analysis, guided by both inductive and deductive coding, was carried out using MAXQDA (Maximizing Qualitative Data Analysis) software. Results: The findings indicate progress in strengthening MNG in the previous decade, though gaps persist. The progress was driven by improved political awareness and commitment, the adoption of nutrition policy and planning frameworks, and improved coordination. Constraints that impede MNG progress include inadequate financing and over-reliance on donor funding, limited translation of commitments to actions, lack of unified monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and fragmented policies. Conclusions: Strengthening multisectoral M&E systems that allow timely collection and utilization of data, ensuring sustainable financing for nutrition, enhancing accountability mechanisms and improving coherence across sectors are important for further improvement of MNG.

In this mixed methods study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 3–5-year-olds (n = 21) in a university-sponsored preschool programme and children completed a theory of mind (ToM) task. After grouping children into pass/no pass groups for the ToM tasks, analyses using interpretive phenomenology indicated that preschool children explain their understanding of secrets and secret hiding places differently, depending on their ToM ability. Children in the ‘pass' group had more detailed narratives, showed more imagination, and required less prompting in their discussions of secret hiding places, regardless of age. Those in the ‘no pass' group had more concrete examples of secret hiding places and relied more heavily on their drawings to explain those places. Implications for children's social competence are discussed.