Childhood in Lavialle is a time to learn one's place in society, and one's relationship both to the kindred and to wider social spheres such as commune, region, and nation. Learning to be Laviallois is, in many ways, learning how to juggle these sometimes conflicting loyalties and identities. Children learn about this both at home and in school.

Family-based socialization of childhood in Lavialle stresses attachment to family, farm, and region. Schooling in Lavialle is immersed within the overall context of the meaning of childhood for local families, and the behaviors and attitudes of parents and children toward the school are caught up in this wider web of meaning. The socialization experiences that children in Lavialle have in the context of home and hamlet life are aimed primarily at producing responsible family members, who will defend and protect the interests of their families and those of the local collectivity. These aims have developed in the context of, and in response to, the influences of schooling. Family-based socialization in Lavialle is part of an overall family strategy aimed at influencing the effects of schooling on children. It encourages them to foreground their identities as members of local families (les nôtres) and as Auvergnats.

There are four major stages in the phrasing of childhood and adolescence for families in Lavialle that will form the basis for this chapter: early childhood, middle childhood, late childhood, and early adulthood. These are marked by three key rituals which express important religious and family values, and define the stages and their transitions: baptism, first communion, and the communal festival.