What did your child do today? Describing young children’s daily activities outside of school

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the daily activities of Canadian children outside of school. Participants were parents of N = 189 children (90 boys, 99 girls) in grades 1 to 3. The What Your Child Did Today parental telephone interview protocol was developed as a daily log of both the type and social context of children’s activities. Among the results, children spent almost half of their waking time in unstructured activities (e.g. free play), compared to 14 percent of on-screen, and 6 percent in structured activities (e.g. sports). Children spent about two-thirds of their time in the company of family followed by peers (22%), and only 10 percent of time was spent alone. Some gender differences were also noted (e.g. boys engaged in more screen time) and parental education was related to time spent in structured activities. Results are discussed in terms of implications for children’s socio-emotional development.

Free time, gender and the pandemic: An exploration of children's daily routines in the times of COVID‐19 in Chile

“…However, the most recent literature on the topic accounts for the fact that including both types of activity complicates the vision of children's daily life (Kanka et al, 2019 ; Sauerwein & Ress, 2020 ). In any case, and broadly speaking, the majority of research approaches the study of the use of free time among children by quantifying it through questionnaires (surveys or ‘schedule filling’; Archbell et al, 2020 ; Larson & Verma, 1999 ; Mullan, 2018 ; Sauerwein & Ress, 2020 ; Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001 ), although iconic studies in the field with ethnographic and qualitative approaches also stand out (Lareau, 2000 ; Lareau, 2011 ). On the other hand, a small number of studies have also utilised temporal panels for comparing children's lives (Mullan, 2018 ; Shaw et al, 2013 ), among which the latter study follows an interesting line of research in the UK by comparing three distinct moments (1975, 2000, and 2015) and observing how children's life has changed across time.…”

Impact of the COVID-19 Quarantine on Young Children’s Family-Based Daily Activities in Greece

“…For instance, our results showed an increase in children's engagement in screen-based recreational activities, a finding that has generated concern regarding its impact on children (Cachón-Zagalaz et al, 2021;Moore et al, 2020;Schmidt et al, 2020). In our study, this increase was accompanied by a simultaneous increase in joint parent-child screen-based activities, indicating that families had the ability to balance potentially harmful outcomes with strategies that may have a positive impact on children as well as family habits and relationships (Archbell et al, 2020).…”

“…Among these, parental physical presence or proximity (directly linked with working hours and availability), the type of the activity (e.g. self-care, household chores, play, learning or socialization) and the estimated necessity of provision of help or assistance, have been pointed out as important (Archbell et al, 2020;Gracia, 2018). Additionally, parental beliefs about the significance of everyday activities for child development have been identified as central in mediating the types of activities parents encourage and participate, thus influencing the nature of the activities children themselves engage in and the time spent in them (Haight et al, 1999;Harkness & Super, 2006;Harkness et al, 2011;Parmar et al, 2004;Petrogiannis et al, 2013;Rogoff et al, 1993;Tudge et al, 1999Tudge et al, , 2006Tulviste et al, 2007).…”

Using rhythmanalysis to explore the synchronicities and disruptions in children’s everyday lives in England and Greece during the 2020 lockdown

“…The third question is methodological and arises from the call for innovative child-centred methodologies which 'capture a holistic view of children's activities' (Archbell et al 2020).…”