EQOL Journal (2018) 10(2):
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Inclusion of preschool children into organized activity in leisure time
Milenko Janković 1✉ • Karolina Berenji 2 • Zoran Milić 3 • Sandra Vujkov 3 • Ágnes Halasi 4
Received: 10th October, 2018 |
DOI: 10.31382/eqol.181204 |
Accepted: 13th November, 2018 |
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© The Author(s) 2018. This article is published with open access. |
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Abstract
All physical activity of preschool children during the day occurs while they are in kindergarten or during their leisure time. The aim of the study was to present the results related to the participation of children in organized activities during leisure time and what is the perception of parents about the scope of their children's physical activity and the time spent on watching TV, using computers and playing video games (as a part of wider study). The research was conducted in 2017 in the Preschool institution “Naša Radost” in Subotica. The survey questionnaire was filled in by 135 parents for children of the average age of 5.14 years (±0.91). The survey questionnaire contained questions about children's nutrition (NutriStep survey) and their involvement in organized activities with educational and
✉milenkojankovic@live.com
1University of Novi Sad, College for Vocational Education of Preschool Teachers, Novi Sad, Serbia
2Public Health Institute, Subotica, Serbia
3University of Novi Sad, College for Vocational Education of Preschool Teachers and Sport Coaches, Subotica, Serbia
4Polytechnic School, Subotica, Serbia
presentation of skills is important (ballet, dance and folklore). The largest number of parents reported that their child spent one hour watching TV, using a computer or playing games. About 71% of parents reported that their child was physically active enough. In both cases, a statistically significant difference was found between boys and girls. Within the family circle and within the educational institution, where children spend most of the time, it is necessary to provide conditions for undisturbed growth and development. One of the best ways is through exercising physical activity.
Keywords preschool children • structured activity
• leisure time
Introduction
The importance of physical activity for human health is reflected in the improvement of cardio- vascular functions (Lachman et al, 2018), respiratory functions (Fuertes et al, 2018), and significantly is associated with motor skills in children (Wrotniak, Epstein, Dorn, Jones, Kondilis, 2006), etc. The term physical activity is usually understood as any physical movement generated by skeletal muscles that leads to energy consumption (Caspersen, Powell, & Christenson, 1985). This definition should be understood in the broadest context, as it applies to all consciously executed movements and motion.
Recent studies confirmed that the lack of physical activity (PA) is commonly assumed as a concerning factor for obesity risk (Machado- Rodrigues et al., 2016). Furthermore, nutritional habits of children and adolescents are crucial to maintaining health and preventing diseases. Very
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often early nutritional habits are extended into adulthood, increasing the risk of chronic non- communicable diseases and disability (Deren et al., 2018).
Recommendations for daily and weekly amount of physical activity can be given in means of time, distance (or steps), content desirably practiced, etc. The World Health Organization's documents recommend that children aged 5 to 17 practice 60 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity (World Health Organization, 2010). It is also stated that additional health benefits are achieved if the activity exceeds the recommended 60 minutes, and it may even be practiced in several separate parts (e.g., twice for 30 minutes). Habits related to regular physical exercise and positive attitudes towards physical activity should be built at the youngest age. In that case, children are most likely to follow in footsteps of their parents and adults from their surroundings because they spend most of their time with them.
Free physical activities are predominant in daily activities of
All physical activity of children during the day occurs while they are in kindergarten or during leisure time. There is a lack of information regarding daily level of organized activities in preschool children in Serbia outside kindergarten. Therefore, the aim was to present only the results related to the participation of children in organized activities during leisure time and what is the perception of parents about the scope of their children's physical activity and the time spent
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watching TV, and playing video games or using computer.
The results presented in this paper are part of a wider study on children's physical activity, it was not possible to display all the results obtained by research.
Method
The research was conducted in September and October 2017 in the
The results presented in this paper are part of a wider study on nutrition and body composition of pre- school children in Subotica. In this research the parents completed the survey questionnaire with questions about children's nutrition (NutriStep survey) and their involvement in organized activities with educational and
The results were processed by calculating the percentage values and displaying the frequency of the results in statistical program (SPSS.20). Mann- Whitney test was used to compare groups of subjects in nonparametric variables. The level of significance is set to p ≤ 0.05.
Results
Out of 135 parents who completed the survey questionnaire, 89 (65.9%) responded positively to the question: “Does your child attend some organized activity during the week?”. Table 1 lists activities indicated by parents as attended by their children. It must be noted that some parents have indicated that children attend two, and in some cases three activities.
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Table 1. Organized activities attended by children in their free time |
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Activity |
Gender |
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Boys |
Girls |
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Music school, choir... |
0 |
11 |
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School of foreign language |
16 |
23 |
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Drawing or painting school |
0 |
1 |
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Logico |
2 |
1 |
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NTC school |
0 |
1 |
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Logoped / Speech Therapist |
1 |
1 |
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Ballet, dance, folk dance... |
3 |
29 |
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School of sports |
22 |
6 |
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School of football |
7 |
0 |
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Swimming |
4 |
1 |
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Ice skating, roller skating… |
1 |
2 |
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Karate |
3 |
2 |
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Gymnastics |
0 |
1 |
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Although organized activities with sports- recreational content can be and usually are educational in nature, in this paper they are divided and separately discussed. In the first six of the above- mentioned activities there is no content referring to
Since it was assumed that a number of children do not attend any of the activities, parents were asked to indicate the reason for their absence. The obtained results are presented in Chart 1.
7%
23%
2%
21%
20% |
9% |
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7% |
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11% |
Sports facilities, foreign language schools, music schools, etc. are too far away...
I think there’s no need
I work with him/her
Due to financial situation
He/she will get enrolled soon
The child does not want, has not shown interest or hesitates
No answer or explanation
Other
Figure 1. Reasons for
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Most parents agree that there is a need for a child to attend some organized activity, but there are certain reasons why some parents did not enroll their children in some organized activity. The largest number of parents whose children do not attend any activity did not give a response or explanation or stated that they work with the child. Attending any kind of activity, in most cases, requires certain financial expenses, so parents in a minority of cases (8.7%) pointed out the financial situation. When the parents opted for Other (21.7%), they stated the following: “my husband and I are working in shifts, so we cannot take the child to the activity”; “I do not have time to take him/her to
the activity anymore”; “I'm waiting for him/her to adapt to the kindergarten a bit”; “choir, sometimes”, “due to transportation”; “I’m waiting for a karate group to be formed”; “we are waiting until he/she turns five so he/she could start with swimming”, etc.
Considering the overall activity of the child, parents were asked whether their child should be more physically active and how much time does it spend watching TV, using a computer or playing video games. The results are shown in Table 2 and Table 3.
Table 2. Perception of parents about the scope of physical activity of the child
Variable |
Boys |
Girls |
Total |
p |
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More physical activity is needed |
15 (21.4%) |
24 (36.9%) |
39 (28.9%) |
.048 |
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It is physically active enough |
55 (78.6%) |
41 (63.1%) |
96 (71.1%) |
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From the Table 2 it can be seen that most parents consider that their child is sufficiently physically active. A statistically significant difference was also found in the responses of the parents of boys and girls.
Table 3. Watching TV, using a computer or playing games
A higher percentage of boys' parents compared to the girls’ parents thinks that their child is physically active enough.
Variable |
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Boys |
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Girls |
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Total |
p |
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About 4 hours |
0 |
(0.0%) |
5 |
(7.7%) |
5 |
(3.7%) |
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About 3 hours |
12 |
(17.1%) |
15 |
(23.1%) |
27 |
(20.0%) |
.017 |
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About 2 hours |
21 |
(30.0%) |
22 |
(33.8%) |
43 |
(31.9%) |
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1 hour or less |
37 |
(52.9%) |
23 (35.4) |
60 |
(44.4%) |
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An integral part of daily activities represents activities that are being exercised with: watching TV, using computer or playing video games. In Table 3 also was established a statistically significant difference in the responses of the parents of boys and girls. When comparing the results, it can be seen that a higher percentage of the parents of the girls indicated that their child watches TV, uses computer or plays video games for a longer period of time
Discussion
The activities indicated by parents as attended by their children can partially be understood in the context of modern times. For example, the largest number of parents stated that their child is attending a foreign language school, which is nowadays highly appreciated: in education, employment, tourism, etc.
For this reason, parents very early begin to encourage their children to learn a foreign language. Other educational activities in which there is no sports- recreational content (music school, choir, school of drawing or painting, logico, etc.) are present in preschool children to a lesser extent. One of the reasons may be that work in a preschool institution is carried out through various areas (art, music, mathematics, etc.), so parents do not decide to enroll their child on some of the organized activities with related content. During the execution of activities in the kindergarten, the areas of work often intertwine, and it is worth mentioning that in previous studies it was found that physical activity positively affects cognitive functioning (Donnelly et al., 2016; Fedewa,
&Ahn, 2011; Sibley, & Etnier, 2003). This fact is very important for all those working in the educational process with children.
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The most common form of organized physical activity of
Based on the results in Table 1, there are some differences between boys and girls in engagement in one of the activities. Although this study did not investigate who had the most influence on the selection of activities, it is assumed that preschool children are most influenced by parents. In almost all organized physical activities, boys are more represented, except in those that are practiced with music and where aesthetic aspects of skills matter (ballet, dance, folk dance, ice skating, etc.). A greater proportion of boys in sports clubs has been observed in earlier studies with older children (Telama et al, 2006), and it can be assumed that organized sport activities are more suited to their needs and interests (Kjønniksen et al., 2009).
Most experts agree that the most appropriate period for the
The results obtained in this study are comparable with the results from earlier studies, showing that girls spend longer periods of inactivity such as
watching TV, using computers and playing video games (Cherney, & London, 2006). As much as 30.8% of girls spend more than 3 hours in these activities, while with boys these activities make up 17.1%. These activities are often associated with poor social skills, while having a TV in the bedroom is related with sleeping problems and lower emotional reactivity (Mistry, Minkovitz, Strobino, & Borzekowski, 2007). Watching a violent or non- violent entertainment program before child turns three is associated with an Attention Deficit Disorder (Zimmerman, & Christakis, 2007). It should be noted that sedentary activities such as watching TV, playing video games and spending time using computers can be one of the causes of obesity (Danner, 2008; Proctor et al, 2003), which is due to the reduced volume of physical activity and increased calorie intake. However, it should be noted that the findings of some studies confirm that the effects of watching television depend on the content of the program and the genre (Wright, Huston, Murphy, Peters & Piñon, 2001), which means that they may have positive impact on children's development.
Conclusion
During growing up, children spend most of their time with their families and within the educational institution. During that period, it is necessary to provide adequate conditions for their undisturbed growth and development. Although within the pre- school educational program there are contents that are focused on the overall
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Acknowledgements
This research is a part of
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How to cite this article:
Janković, M., Berenji, K., Milić, Z., Vujkov, S., & Halasi, Á.
APA: (2018). Inclusion of preschool children into organized activity in leisure time. Exercise and Quality of Life, 10(2),
Janković, Milenko, et al. "Inclusion of preschool children into
MLA:organized activity in leisure time." Exercise and Quality of Life 10.2 (2018):
Janković, Milenko, Karolina Berenji, Zoran Milić, Sandra Vujkov,
Chicago: and Ágnes Halasi. "Inclusion of preschool children into organized activity in leisure time." Exercise and Quality of Life 10, no. 2
(2018):
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