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Enriching Children, Institutionalizing Childhood? Geographies of Play, Extracurricular Activities, and Parenting in England

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  • Sarah L. Holloway
  • Helena Pimlott-Wilson

Abstract

Geographical research on children, youth, and families has done much to highlight the ways in which children's lives have changed over the last twenty-five years. A key strand of research concerns children's play and traces, in the Global North, a decline in children's independent access to, and mobility through, public space. This article shifts the terrain of that debate from an analysis of what has been lost to an exploration of what has replaced it. Specifically, it focuses on children's participation in enrichment activities, including both individual and collective extracurricular sporting, cultural, and leisure opportunities in England. The research reveals that middle-class children have much higher participation rates in enrichment activities than their working-class counterparts. Parents value enrichment activities in very similar ways across the class spectrum—seeing them as fun, healthy, and social opportunities. The ability to pay for enrichment, however, means that it is incorporated into, and transforms, middle-class family life in ways not open to working-class families. Nevertheless, support across the class spectrum for these instrumental forms of play that institutionalize childhood in school, community, and commercial spaces leads to calls for subsidized provision for low-income children through schools. The article thus traces the “enrichment” and “institutionalization” of childhood and draws out the implications of this for how we think about play, education, parenting, and class in geography.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah L. Holloway & Helena Pimlott-Wilson, 2014. "Enriching Children, Institutionalizing Childhood? Geographies of Play, Extracurricular Activities, and Parenting in England," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 104(3), pages 613-627, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:104:y:2014:i:3:p:613-627
    DOI: 10.1080/00045608.2013.846167
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    Cited by:

    1. Leung, Kevin Y.K. & Astroza, Sebastian & Loo, Becky P.Y. & Bhat, Chandra R., 2019. "An environment-people interactions framework for analysing children's extra-curricular activities and active transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 341-358.
    2. John Horton & Peter Kraftl, 2018. "Three playgrounds: Researching the multiple geographies of children’s outdoor play," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(1), pages 214-235, February.
    3. Kirsten Visser & Irina van Aalst, 2022. "Neighbourhood Factors in Children's Outdoor Play: A Systematic Literature Review," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 113(1), pages 80-95, February.
    4. Kobakhidze, M. Nutsa & Ying, Ma & Tsaloukidis, A. Alexandros, 2023. "The impact of social class on out-of-school activities: Converging trends in parental choices?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Wei Liu & Chenggu Li & Yao Tong & Jing Zhang & Zuopeng Ma, 2020. "The Places Children Go: Understanding Spatial Patterns and Formation Mechanism for Children’s Commercial Activity Space in Changchun City, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, February.
    6. Maider Belintxon & Alfonso Osorio & Jokin de Irala & Marcia Van Riper & Charo Reparaz & Marta Vidaurreta, 2020. "Connections between Family Assets and Positive Youth Development: The Association between Parental Monitoring and Affection with Leisure-Time Activities and Substance Use," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, November.

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