Paying bills was the most frequently cited writing behavior respondents recalled their parents modeling. Both parents were involved with paying bills and writing letters to family members while only mothers were cited as writing in journals or diaries.

Table 13. Writing behaviour
Writing behaviour Number of
responses		 Occupation Comments
Parents paid bills or taxes 13 0 n=2
A n=4
B n=3
C n=3
D n=1		 Mom paid bills and Dad did taxes.
Mom ran Dad’s store so I saw invoicing every night.
I saw them do taxes on their own together for one week a year. I saw Dad always doing the bills.
Parents wrote letters 9 0 n=3
A n=1
B n=1
C n=3
D n=1		 I saw both parents writing letters to family.
Mom wrote letters.
I saw my parents writing letters back home to Croatia.
Mother wrote in a journal 3 A n=2
B n=1		 Mom wrote in a diary every day.
I saw my mom writing in a journal once a month.
Mom did intense journaling; I saw her writing every day in it.

Thirteen people from all occupation categories recalled both parents singing at home. Seven people said singing and rhyming modeling by their parents included singing at church each week. Table 14 shows the distribution and sample comments.

Table 14. Singing/rhyming behaviour
Singing/rhyming behaviour Number of
responses		 Occupation Comments
Parents sang or rhymed 13 0 n=4
A n=2
B n=3
C n=3
D n=1		 Mom sang at family functions.
We had a sing-along on the piano every Christmas.
Four nights a week we sang grace at dinner.
Both my parents loved music so there was lots of singing around the house.
Parents sang in church 7 0 n= 3
A n=2
B n=1
D n=1		 Both parents sang at church once a week.
We would sing at church on Sunday. My mom taught Sunday school.