The Family Programming Movement

Park and recreation agencies should encourage family activity rather than supplying more outlets for “over-programmed” kids

by barbara elwood schlatter

A recent study by the University of Michigan found that children under age 12 spend 75 percent of their weekday in structured, organized activities (Fishman, 1999). Whatever happened to spontaneous play?

I remember taking a graduate course on the sociology of leisure by scholar Dr. Jack Kelly at the University of Illinois 10 years ago. One of his discussions that stood out in my mind was how married couples’ leisure time drastically changes after children enter the picture, especially for mothers.

Being single at the time, I couldn’t imagine a life revolving around anything other than myself and my leisure pursuits. Then I married and became a step-mom of two elementary school-aged children and a pre-teen. Suddenly I knew exactly what Dr. Kelly meant! Many an early morning, evening and weekend were (and still are) spent driving the kids to and from a barrage of activities including piano lessons, sport practice, 4-H club meetings and the like. It reminds me of a friend who refers to herself not as a stay-at-home mom, but a stay-in-the-van mom!

Organized Recreation Opportunities
Organized recreation opportunities abound for children today. For those of us in the field of parks and recreation this fact would appear to be a positive thing. After all, research findings show that kids who are involved in meaningful activities may be less likely to get into trouble. And now through the advent of prescriptive recreation programming approaches such as Benefits Based Programming, children are not only learning recreation skills but they’re learning how to be resilient, that is, how to get along when the “chips are down.”

These virtues of organized recreation are hard to argue against, but I’m going to anyway. It’s time we take a critical look at what we do and see if improvements are in order.

Early Childhood Brain Development
In recent years there seems to be an overemphasis by parents to get their young children scheduled into as many recreation-related programs as possible, where skills and new knowledge can be learned. And why not? After all, the early childhood research tells eager parents that critical brain development takes place during the first five years of life. It’s hard to imagine a parent who wouldn’t delight in such news.

What happens next is the problem. Parents seem to believe that they should sign up their kids for every organized recreation program there is in the form of specialized sports, music and art. There is a sense of hope that these organized activities will somehow give their children an edge in today’s increasingly competitive world and make their kids smarter at the same time.

Over-committed Kids, “Wigged-out” Parents
What effects might these programs have on children and their parents? It has been argued that children who

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This problem is not new. In fact, Elkind (1998) in his book, The Ties That Stress, claims that the problem has gotten worse not better. At the same time, parents are stressed out because they spend too much time in the van carting their children from one activity to the next.

There can also be a sinking feeling by the parent that, “I’ll never get back out to the golf course.” According to Kelly, women tend to experience this more than men since women still are typically the ones who tend to the daily needs of children, regardless of whether she works outside the home. Moreover, parents have a tendency to put their own leisure interests on the back burner during the early child-rearing years in order to focus attention on the development of their children’s leisure interests. While this may sound noble, it may lead to resentment and jealousy.

A Plea for Simplicity
A recent study by the University of Michigan found that children under age 12 spend 75 percent of their weekday in structured, organized activities (Fishman, 1999). What ever happened to spontaneous play? You remember, good old-fashioned kid-imagined play: climbing trees, fashion shows, cops and robbers, and forts made of refrigerator boxes.

Think of the creativity that is sparked in children’s minds when they engage in such unstructured play. Are today’s children so over-programmed that they don’t know what to do when they have a few free hours on their hands?

Can leisure professionals design programs that are more conducive to spontaneity and creativity? Certainly! The dilemma presented to the recreation professional is, on the one hand, the need to be accountable for our programs and constituents in terms of skills learned, behavior change, etcetera. At the same time we must recognize the need for children to engage in spontaneous play. This can be done by altering program designs so that portions of unstructured time are infused into our programs.

Family Programming: A Reasonable Compromise
Getting back to Kelly’s “Sociology of Leisure” class, it is necessary to point out that the family remains the primary socializing agent for young children. This is a reassuring fact to remember.

For parents of infants, though, many leisure interests must be put on hold. However, once children reach pre-school age parents can begin to introduce their leisure interests to children. Naturally, the intensity and skill level must be reduced drastically.

For example, if you like to hike, such excursions with very young children will be of a short length and slow-paced. If you’re a golfer, be prepared to see your child experiment with the club as a baseball bat, a hockey stick, and even a hiking stick. For parents, such slow and plodding activities may seem more work than leisure. However, from the child’s standpoint, these variations to “our” activities are wonderful.

Gradual exposure is the key. With the passage of time come longer attention spans, fine motor skill development, and a sense of enjoyment that comes from spending time with a parent.

Illinois Recreation and Parks to the Rescue!
From the standpoint of recreation professionals, there is a new trend on the rise: family programming. This trend provides an opportunity to address some of the problems described earlier: stressed out and unfulfilled parents, kids who are growing up too fast, and parents who dream of being able to resume some of their “life before children” leisure interests. Morton Grove Park District is an example of an agency that, through a citizen survey, discovered that citizens wanted more family programming (Stanke, 1999).

Among Illinois parks districts and municipal departments, the majority of family programming is offered through special events. Bloomington Parks and Recreation Depart-

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Instead of always dropping kids off, parents should be encouraged to stay and play, too!

Last September I chaired a round-table discussion on Family Recreation Programming at the Nebraska Recreation and Park Educational Institute. Surprisingly enough, some of the most common forms of family recreation are not programmed at all! Numerous professionals from around the state remarked on family use of local parks for picnics, hiking, games, and swimming.

By providing more options for family recreation opportunities we can attempt to achieve a variety of benefits. Gearing up for family programming doesn’t take much from the agency standpoint. The facilities are already in place: e.g., aquatic parks, innovative play equipment and driving ranges. The key is marketing the facilities in a manner that illustrates the benefits of family recreation: togetherness, fun, building strong relationships and sharing interests.

Instead of always dropping kids off, parents should be encouraged to stay and play, too! Rather than planning highly organized recreation programs, we should market the notion of taking time for spontaneous play for both parents and children. Remember, children don’t want quality time with their parents, they want quantity time!

The stay-and-play strategy also works well for parents who want to get back in shape but feel they can’t take the time to get their 30-minute exercise program because they are trying to meet their children’s needs. Not so says the Surgeon General’s report on physical fitness. All that is needed is a total of 30 minutes of moderate activity spread throughout the day at various intervals. Thus, parents are encouraged to stay and walk or jog a few laps around the soccer field during practice rather than the drop-off, pick-up routine.

Hopefully these strategies will help not only parents and children, but will also help recreation agencies to meet the needs of families in their communities. 

Barbara Elwood Schlatter
is an assistant professor in the Recreation and Park Administration program at Illinois State University. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in the program management sequence, is a mother of a 5-year-old boy, and step-mom to three children ages 16, 20 and 22.

References:
Fishman, C. (1999). “The Smorgasbord Generation.” American Demographics, (5), p. 54 – 60.
Stanke, D. (1999). “Gather Citizen Input through a Community Survey.” Get the Message, Issue 1, p.3.

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