‘There’s not a lot of places for them to go’: rural and remote family perspectives on children’s independent mobility

ABSTRACT

Children’s independent mobility (CIM) is the freedom of children to move around their neighbourhood or community without adult supervision. The aim of this study was to explore experiences with CIM from the perspectives of children and their parents living in rural and remote areas of British Columbia, Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 parent–child dyads or triads (45 participants). Child participants aged 7–12 were invited to create and describe drawings, maps, or take images of their independent mobility. Artwork and interview transcripts were analysed following an inductive thematic approach and mapped to the social-ecological model. We developed four themes to describe rural and remote family perspectives on CIM: (1) natural places, spaces, and forces; (2) embracing informal and unstructured play destinations; (3) decision-making and knowing when they are ready; (4) neighbourhood and community environments. Children identified several environmental characteristics impacting their independent mobility including wildlife, seasonal weather patterns, and lack of destinations. Parents reported the environment of rural communities, including neighbourhood cohesiveness and people looking out for each other, as being supportive of CIM. To promote CIM in rural and remote areas, efforts should focus on providing education on wildlife encounters, creating safe and interesting destinations for play, and consider children’s safety and connectivity in road design.

KEYWORDS:

• Outdoor play
• physical activity
• independent mobility
• rural
• socioecological model

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our community and family partners for their guidance and support in recruiting participants, designing data collection materials, and helping us understand findings in the context of their work. We are also grateful to the parents and children who participated in this study and generously shared their stories, drawings, and photographs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Supplementary material

Interview guide.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the BC SUPPORT Unit Northern Centre.