So they may nag for a PSP/DS/iPod or some other boggling and costly abbreviation, but according to new research carried out forDairylea, what kids really want is some simple childhood fun, just like our mums used to make.
Which is a bit of a slug in the guts for us time-poor, guilt-ridden parents who apparently spend £8.6bn on the latest toys and games each year.
According to the report, the top activity for today’s children is playing on a games console (62%), where parents recall their own top childhood activity was playing on a bike or wheeled toy (61%). However, and this is the crucial bit, 54% of kids said they wanted to spend more time playing on a bike or wheeled toy.
But is the story here really that simple: children say they want the latest gadget but really they just want to scramble on their bikes like we did?
Or when they say they want to play on their bikes a bit more, do they mean they want to go off on their bikes a bit more, in other words, they want more freedom?
Tim Gill, a childhood consultant, blogs at rethinkingchildhood.com and put together the report for Dairylea, and describes kids’ lives today as more complicated for a number of reasons – they’re dominated by “technology and social, media and academic pressures .”
Life for parents “was less high-tech and glitzy, but it was also more sociable and freer from adult pressures, fears and anxieties,” he says.
Maybe. But do you think children lead more complicated lives now, or just lives with different things in their room and just as much complication as there ever was?
Yes, we played British Bulldog, and we were certainly allowed to go off further on our bikes than I’d ever dream of letting my children at an equivalent age, but does that mean things are worse now, or just that our perceptions have changed?
It could be a classic case of parents now romanticising our own childhood. Will our children look back in 30 years and say, “I remember an innocent time, when 62% of our time was spent playing wholesome games on our old timey computer consoles”?
— Holly, www.hollyseddon.com
About Holly Seddon
Holly Seddon is a writer, editor and community consultant and helped launched the community for Adoption UK, which won charity website of the year just 9 months later. She also writes a music blog.
Baby Genie
Friday 2nd of September 2011
I think a lot of children crave down time when we're dragging them from park to play centre, swimming to football practice. I wrote a post about family outing overload (FOO) a while ago... http://babygenie.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/are-your-children-suffering-from-f-o-o/
Saffia
Thursday 4th of August 2011
Thanks Holly. Yes, it can be hard to get the balance right!
Holly Seddon
Tuesday 2nd of August 2011
Thanks for your comments, everyone :) Delia, great posts, thank you. Saffia, you're right, and what kids NEED is the key thing we do as parents, isn't it. Make sure they're not just watching screens all the time, make sure they have sun cream on when they're in the garden, make sure they do the homework when all they want to do is play, make sure they get a balanced diet rather than what they want all the time and so on and so on and so on!
Delia Lloyd
Monday 1st of August 2011
Thanks for this-love this stat. We've always tried to do a lot of cultural stuff with our kids - museums, walking tours, historical monuments, castles and palaces. My view is that if you get them doing this early enough - and make it fun (i.e. combine with an art project, which most museums in London do) you can "hook" them on it as an exciting weekend/holiday activity. Here are 2 posts I've written on (child-friendly) outings in London: http://realdelia.com/2010/09/tips-for-adulthood-five-things-worth-doing-in-london-part-1/ http://realdelia.com/2010/09/tips-for-adulthood-five-things-worth-doing-in-london-part-2/ Delia LLoyd www.realdelia.com
Saffia Farr
Monday 1st of August 2011
it's not just about what children want, but about what they NEED. Children need time for unstructured play. The sort of free, challenging play that Tim Gill writes about is important for developing creativity, independence and self esteem, the "I can do it" mentality. The tendency now is to structure their days too much, so they are "safe", but we need to let them face a little riskly challenge to learn to cope with risks themselves. I can recommend Tim's writing - he's written a book called No Fear - Growing Up in Risk Averse Society. There's been lots written in JUNO magazine about the lost "art" of play and freedom in childhood. Saffia