The following key sub-questions serve as the driving force for my inquiry and together help answer the general overarching question regarding literacy practices and perceptions of low-income families:

1. How do family literacy practices and events unfold in these low-income homes?
2. How is literacy embedded in families' social practices and relationships between schools and homes?
3. What conditions and factors within the family contribute to family literacy and the enculturation of children into these practices?

I had planned at the outset to describe my observations, rather than indulge in value judgements by trying to ascertain what is right and what is wrong in what low-income parents do to promote literacy development in their children. I maintain that all parents want their children to succeed and that decisions regarding their actions are made with good intentions. Even though what some parents choose to do may not fit neatly within the parameters of what a teacher believes is good practice, I feel that rigorous pursuit of defining best practices is ultimately dangerous. I am adamant that educators must learn not to privilege one set meaning and to grasp what "otherness" means when looking at the nature of literacy in low-income homes. They must recognize that diversity abounds rather than try to impose a middle class perspective and stifle the chance for new possibilities and different ways of understanding and experiencing the world.