Lew-Levy and Amir present a compelling argument that children’s peer culture plays a bidirectional role in cultural evolution, acting both as a product of cultural forces and as a driving influence on them. Their target article effectively highlights the role of adolescents in mediating between peer and adult cultures and acknowledges mechanisms such as gossip and storytelling in the transmission of peer norms. Although the authors touch on these strategies briefly, emerging work suggests it is important to more fully consider the developmental trajectory and foundational importance of norm enforcement mechanisms (e.g., gossip) as tools that even young children use to negotiate, reinforce, and shape group norms. In this commentary, I expand upon their framework by proposing an additional two key points. First, norm enforcement strategies emerge far earlier in childhood than the target article suggests. And second, these strategies deserve a more central role in understanding how peer culture is formed, sustained, and transmitted.

Norm enforcement strategies – such as protest, tattling, and gossip – emerge early in childhood and serve as foundational tools for regulating social behavior and maintaining group cohesion. Protest involves directly confronting peers about norm violations, often expressing disapproval of unfair or inappropriate behavior. While effective, protest can carry social risks, especially when directed at more dominant individuals (Ingram, Reference Ingram2014). Tattling, by contrast, is a less confrontational strategy in which children report transgressions to authority figures or other peers, thereby enforcing group norms without direct conflict (Vaish et al., Reference Vaish, Missana and Tomasello2011; Yucel & Vaish, Reference Yucel and Vaish2018). Gossip, evaluative communication about others, represents a more sophisticated and decentralized form of norm enforcement (Engelmann, Herrmann, & Tomasello, Reference Engelmann, Herrmann and Tomasello2016; Fine, Reference Fine1977; Köymen & Engelmann, Reference Köymen and Engelmann2022). By circulating evaluative information within the peer group, gossip allows children to shape reputations, influence alliances, and regulate behavior – all without direct confrontation or adult oversight. Taken together, these distinct strategies reflect peer-driven mechanisms for norm learning and enforcement, with particular relevance for understanding how children participate in the cultural innovation and transmission that Lew-Levy and Amir emphasize.

A growing body of research demonstrates that children engage in these norm-relevant behaviors and language well before adolescence. Protest, tattling, and gossip are not only fundamental to early peer culture but are also observable between ages three and five (Engelmann et al., Reference Engelmann, Herrmann and Tomasello2016; Hardecker et al., Reference Hardecker, Schmidt, Roden and Tomasello2016; Schmidt & Tomasello, Reference Schmidt and Tomasello2012; Vaish, Missana, & Tomasello, Reference Vaish, Missana and Tomasello2011; Yucel & Vaish, Reference Yucel and Vaish2018). These behaviors are argued to serve multiple social functions, including regulating peer behavior, articulating implicit group expectations, and reinforcing shared values (Tomasello, Reference Tomasello2016, Reference Tomasello2019; Yucel & Moulder, Reference Yucel and Moulder2024). While Lew-Levy and Amir rightly emphasize the role of adolescents in language-based innovation and cultural mediation, such a focus may underplay the significance of early peer interactions in laying the groundwork for these later dynamics. As gossip becomes increasingly central in early to middle childhood, it represents another form of horizontal transmission – the peer-to-peer dissemination of cultural knowledge and social norms – that occurs largely outside the purview of adult authority. In this way, norm enforcement is not merely a reactive response to violations but a formative process through which children co-construct and sustain their cultural environments.

Protest, tattling, and gossip form a dynamic and developmentally unfolding toolbox of strategies through which children enforce, internalize, and transmit group norms. Protest enacts immediate correction, tattling delegates enforcement to external agents, and gossip sustains broader cultural cohesion by influencing reputations and social affiliations. These strategies do not simply reflect cultural norms; they actively construct and shape them. By participating in these practices from a young age, children can contribute meaningfully to the evolution and maintenance of peer culture, thereby participating in the broader processes of cultural transmission and transformation. Future research would benefit from examining how these strategies unfold across developmental stages and vary across sociocultural contexts, such as differences in the value placed on individual assertiveness versus group harmony, or in adult involvement in peer conflict, to better understand how children’s norm enforcement behaviors both reflect and shape local peer and adult cultural practices. Doing so would further illuminate the deeply embedded role even young children play in the ongoing process of cultural evolution.

Recognizing the developmental trajectory of norm enforcement strategies allows for a richer understanding of how peer cultures emerge and evolve and how children, long before adolescence, serve as active contributors to the cultural landscape.