In spite of these challenges, the image of mother-child storybook reading continues to dominate literacy advice as the “magic bullet” for children’s success in school and in life. Along with the weight of its cultural roots in ideals of the Madonna, and the visions of peace and social cohesion it promises, perhaps it is because mother-child story book reading can be studied as an observable literacy event for the purposes of research that this practice is most often recommended. This suggests once again that literacy advice is not only about promoting children’s literacy, but also about normalizing mothering discourses.
This study showed how literacy advice to mothers was closely linked to ever-changing nation-building agendas. In this way, educational and government institutions in particular can be said to benefit from the mobilization of women’s domestic literacy work in the service of these nation-building aspirations. But of course this regulation would not be possible if no mothers benefited from the status or promise of social mobility that literacy advice promised. It is also important to acknowledge that supporting children’s literacy may be seen by many mothers and fathers as a fulfilling and rewarding aspect of child-raising. Men benefit from literacy advice discourses that do not implicate their work or responsibility as central to the literacy achievement of their children. This frees them from the choices surrounding the management of work-family balance that are faced most mothers. Fathers may also be oppressed by social norms that tend to exclude them from involvement in their children’s literacy. Mothers may benefit from a sense of control, status, and community in “feminized” literacy settings. Yet it is worth remembering that in spite of the history of literacy as a constructed feminized practice, women were often constructed as in need of expert advice and guidance from male scientists, comedians, and even hockey players. This all suggests the very different ways in which people are positioned in literacy advice.