Too many kids are kept out of after-school activities
The Province
September 13, 2010
By Sam Cooper

Plenty of constructive after-school activities are available in Vancouver, but a large number of children say they face obstacles to participating in these programs, a groundbreaking study has found.

In January, experts including a team of researchers from the University of B.C. were able to hear directly from more than 3,000 students across the city’s 23 neighbourhoods, comprising 80 per cent of the Grade 4 population.

The children were asked how they are doing in five important areas of development — areas identified through 20 years of scientific research as crucially important in shielding kids from harmful stress, lead researcher Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl says.

One of the key supports for children’s well-being is the opportunity to participate in constructive after-school activities, but previously not much has been known about what children aged six to 12 actually do after school, the report says.

That information is important because juvenile crime rates spike in the absence of adult supervision after the 3 p.m. bell and before working parents return home, Schonert-Reichl says.

On top of that, research shows that organized recreational activities, such as sports or art groups, help the positive development of children. They do better in school, are less likely to drop out and are more “pro-social” towards other children.

Researchers asked children exactly what they do after school on a daily basis.

More than 60 per cent said they never go to an after-school program or daycare, and only 10 per cent said they did participate in such programs every day. More than half, 52 per cent, said they go straight home every day.

Dan Marriott helped administer the study and has 30 years’ experience as a teacher and manager in the Vancouver school system. He said researchers were surprised to find so many children reporting that they were not taking part in the organized activities they wished they could — including more than 43 per cent who said they wanted to take part in sports, for example — but couldn’t….

“The community and schools and parents need to get together and talk about how children can tap into opportunities.”

The study suggests that a large number of children have to skip after-school activities because of costs, negative feedback from parents or the need to take care of siblings….