New Zealand parents' understandings of the intergenerational decline in children's independent outdoor play and active travel

Abstract

Children's independent mobility and physical activity levels are declining in Western countries. In the past 20 years New Zealand children's active travel (walking and cycling) has dropped on average from 130 to 72 minutes per week, and those travelling by car to school have increased from 31% to 58%. This paper describes parents' understandings of why 9–11-year-old primary school children in suburban Auckland are less likely to walk to school and play unsupervised outdoors than they were as children. Data gathered in focus groups show understandings range from proximate neighbourhood explanations to downstream impacts of a neoliberal policy context.

Keywords:

• children
• independent mobility
• neighbourhood
• parenting practices
• New Zealand

Notes

Numbers of private schools in the Auckland region increased between 2000 and 2007 from 37 to 50 but dropped back to 41 by 2011 (MoE 2012).