Where do children usually play? A qualitative study of parents’ perceptions of influences on children’s active free-play

The author discusses a study performed in Melbourne, Australia which explored how parents from different socio-economic areas chose where their child would play. The article talks about the key environmental and social factors that contributed to the parents' decisions, as well as the overall importance of play to a child's development. The author discusses present obesity issues in developed countries, and the effect of this circumstance on children. He believes this predicament is partially due to the decrease in physical activity as a mode of transportation in these nations. The author reasons that physical activity is especially important now in the form of active free-play, as physically demanding modes of transportation like walking and biking have been replaced by motorized vehicles. The author relays the importance of the study, explaining how knowledge of the locations where play occurs can help encourage further physical activity and deter obesity. The author also explains the importance of collecting information from different socio-economic backgrounds. He reasons that information collected surrounding children of the same background would be inaccurate as children have unequal access to playing facilities based on the environments in which they are raised. The author discusses how the group that conducted the experiment used a conceptual approach to play, with the ecological model. The author reveals that most scientists conducting these studies stray away from theoretical models as they feel they don’t accurately encompass all factors related to play. However, the ecological model takes into account the unique interactions between individuals socially, within their physical environments. The author depicts the importance of a qualitative approach to this study, rather than a quantitative, as statistical information tends not fully encompass the ever changing environments, and circumstances of interaction, amongst people. Therefore, the author reasons, a more generalized, qualitative approach works to account for all of the intricacies of play. The author discusses the course of action taken by the scientists. Specifically, how they meant with parents, in person, from various school districts. This procedure allowed the scientists to collect information from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, and accurately understand the outlooks of parents through qualitative conversations rather than statistics. The study concluded that parents highly take into account the presence of busy streets and overall road safety when looking for a setting for their children to play, popularizing the presence of cul-de-sacs. Additionally, the study concluded that many parents consider if the child will be able to interact with other children in the given environment, which provides reasoning surrounding the prominence of parks. This information can be crucial to future urban planning.

Veitch, Jenny, Bagley, Sarah, Ball, Kylie, & Salmon, Jo. (2006). Where do children usually play? A qualitative study of parents’ perceptions of influences on children's active free-play. Health & Place, 12(4), 383-393.