VIEWS OF CHILDREN AND PARENTS ON CHOOSING EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Background: Despite recent research highlighting the importance of extracurricular activities to children’s long-term developmental benefits (e.g., Batorowicz et al., 2014; King et al., 2014), little is known about how... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Despite recent research highlighting the importance of extracurricular activities to children’s long-term developmental benefits (e.g., Batorowicz et al., 2014; King et al., 2014), little is known about how activities are chosen. Proxy reports have often been used to study participation of children with disabilities; however, this approach might be problematic because of the individual meaning of preferences, interests and choices (Batorowicz et al., 2015; Hammell, 2004; King et al., 2013; Kramer et al., 2012). The purpose of this study was to explore views of children without disabilities and their parents about choosing extracurricular activities.
Method: Participants included 374 school-age children without disabilities and 215 parents from Poland. They (separately) completed a survey about children’s extracurricular activities: who chose them and if activities were according to children’s interests. The data were analysed descriptively.
Results: Figure 1 shows that 60% of parents vs. 30% of children reported that they selected activities together. While the majority of children (67%) and parents (87%) indicated that the activities were according to the children’s interests, only one parent (0.4%), in contrast to 28% of children, stated that activities did not meet the child’s interest (13% parents and 5% children did not know).
Conclusion: Findings support previous studies suggesting the importance of seeking children’s views directly, rather than relying solely on parents’ reports.
Application to Practice: Asking children with disabilities about their activity interests and choices may help to better understand children’s viewpoints and support their meaningful engagement.