We have to live in the future

Abstract

Governments and health authorities are expressing concern about increasing levels of obesity, diabetes and physical inactivity in children. In response to such concerns, it is common to adapt strategies for adults to children, and to conduct adult‐focused research. This paper describes a research study commissioned by the South Australian government that sought to involve children aged younger than 12 years in defining their meanings and views about physical activity. The research is being used to plan strategies to increase children’s participation in physical activity. The qualitative study combined focus groups, drawing and mapping techniques and photographic methods with 204 children aged 4–12 years in metropolitan and rural South Australia. This paper reports results from two of the research questions: What are children’s theories of physical activity, play and sport? What do children want to tell adults? Results indicate that children were enthusiastic participants in the research and appreciated the opportunity to communicate their views. The terms ‘physical activity’ and ‘exercise’ had little meaning for children, who described them as terms adults use. ‘Play’ and ‘sport’ had powerful, contrasting meanings for children: with ‘play’ child‐centred and ‘sport’ controlled by adults. Children had mixed views on the power of sporting heroes as role models, on computers and television as the enemy of physical activity and on links between physical activity and health status. The research demonstrates that children bring to the discourse about physical activity some ideas that challenge the views adults hold about children. It is recommended that strategies to increase children’s participation in physical activity are designed using research with children.

Full text

Early Child Development and Care
, 2004
Vol. 174(4), pp. 369–387
ISSN 0300–4430 (print)/ISSN 1476–8275 (online)/04/040369–19
© 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/0300443032000153426
We have to live in the future
Colin MacDougall
1
*
, Wendy Schiller
2
& Philip Darbyshire
3
1
Flinders University, Australia;
2
University of South Australia, Australia;
3
Women and
Children’s Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
Taylor and Francis LtdGECD031063.sgm10.1080/0300443032000000000Early Child Development and Care0300-4430 (print)/1476-8275 (online)Original Article2004Taylor & Francis Ltd1743000000April 2004ColinMacDougallFlinders UniversityAustralia
Governments and health authorities are expressing concern about increasing levels of obesity,
diabetes and physical inactivity in children. In response to such concerns, it is common to adapt
strategies for adults to children, and to conduct adult-focused research. This paper describes a
research study commissioned by the South Australian government that sought to involve children
aged younger than 12 years in defining their meanings and views about physical activity. The
research is being used to plan strategies to increase children’s participation in physical activity. The
qualitative study combined focus groups, drawing and mapping techniques and photographic meth-
ods with 204 children aged 4–12 years in metropolitan and rural South Australia. This paper reports
results from two of the research questions: What are children’s theories of physical activity, play and
sport? What do children want to tell adults? Results indicate that children were enthusiastic partic-
ipants in the research and appreciated the opportunity to communicate their views. The terms
‘physical activity’ and ‘exercise’ had little meaning for children, who described them as terms adults
use. ‘Play’ and ‘sport’ had powerful, contrasting meanings for children: with ‘play’ child-centred
and ‘sport’ controlled by adults. Children had mixed views on the power of sporting heroes as role
models, on computers and television as the enemy of physical activity and on links between physical
activity and health status. The research demonstrates that children bring to the discourse about
physical activity some ideas that challenge the views adults hold about children. It is recommended
that strategies to increase children’s participation in physical activity are designed using research
with children.
Keywords:
Child-centred research; Physical activity; Children’s perceptions
Children, physical activity, participation and the future
The title of this paper comes from the words of a child in a focus group from a class
of 9–10 year olds in an Australian capital city. The focus group was part of an Austra-
lian qualitative study of 204 children aged 4–12 years, and this paper reports results
from two of the research questions:
*
Corresponding author: Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.

370
C. MacDougal
et al.
(1) What are children’s theories of physical activity, play and sport?
(2) What do children want to tell adults?
‘We have to live in the future’ was an explicit message from the focus group to the
government department that sponsored the research and would receive the final
report and recommendations. That department, the South Australia Department of
Human Services, commissioned the research to inform a physical activity strategy for
primary school age children. This paper summarizes the research study, the methods
used to seek the views of children and the major findings from the study.
Physical inactivity is a public health risk that is becoming more prevalent and is
considered to be one of the most important risk factors for all-cause mortality (Sallis
& Owen, 1999). Sufficient levels of physical activity are only achieved by one-half of
the South Australian adult population (South Australia Department of Human
Services, 2002). It is argued that being active everyday is important for children’s phys-
ical, social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual health (Children’s Health Development
Foundation, 2000); however, many Australian children are not active enough to benefit
their health. There is evidence that fitness has been declining in Australian school chil-
dren over the past generation (Dolman
et al.
, 1999). Over 20% of Australian children
are not active enough to benefit their health (Booth, 2000) and many are overweight
or obese (Bauman
et al.
, 2002). In the United States the percentage of young people
who are overweight has almost doubled in the past 20 years (Troiano & Flegal, 1998).
Health authorities encourage physical activity in young people because of the asser-
tion that lifetime physical activity and health patterns are, or should be, established in
childhood, such that active children would translate into active adults. Governments
are concerned about increasing obesity and decreasing physical activity in children in
developed countries and are exploring effective policies, research and health promo-
tion programmes (Bauman et al., 2002). In May 2003 the South Australian govern-
ment announced a Ministerial Physical Activity Forum, involving the six Cabinet
Ministers responsible for the portfolios of Local Government, Planning, Recreation
and Sport, Transport, Education, Health and Tourism. Each of these agencies deliv-
ers programmes and/or services that influence the physical activity levels of the South
Australian population. The Forum is responsible for overseeing the implementation
of a Physical Activity Strategy for South Australia. The Department of Human
Services will implement a physical activity strategy for children aged 8–12, using the
results of the research reported in this paper.
Contemporary research and practice increasingly promotes
community participation
as a hallmark of the design, delivery and evaluation of human services (MacDougall,
2001). Community participation is one of the six principles underlying the primary
health care approach, and community action is one of the cornerstones of current
education and health promotion orthodoxy. The World Health Organisation’s
(1986) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion describes community participation as
one of the primary health care principles underpinning all five approaches and, in
relation to adults, Australian governments have moved to increase participation
(Commonwealth of Australia, 1995, 2000).

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371
The early childhood literature describes young children as a special population
about which we know very little, but for whom participation in physically active play
and physical activity programmes is preferable to adult-tailored fitness/exercise
programmes (Seefeldt, 1984; Seefeldt & Voegel, 1989). Gallahue and Ozman (2002)
agreed, arguing that children move to learn and, in so doing, ‘learn to move’. In the
process of establishing fundamental movement patterns they can achieve sufficient
participation in physical activity. Pangrazi
et al.
(1996); established that 30 minutes
per day of moderate physical activity is helpful for younger children to maintain
fitness appropriate for their age and stage of development.
In the literature on participation and health there are two important beliefs. The
first is that involving people in health initiatives improves the quality and effectiveness
of these initiatives. The second is that participation helps overcome community and
individual powerlessness and results in people being healthier (Putland et al., 1997).
The current debate about social capital suggests that the fabric of civic society is an
important determination of the health of a community, and encouraging participation
helps to weave and strengthen this fabric (Baum, 2002). Participation, however, is a
complex and contested concept involving power relationships. The four types of
participation summarized by Baum (2002) differ in terms of the extent to which
participation involves a transfer of power from the state or experts to communities or
populations.
Particularly with children, the more the consultation or participation implies a
transfer of power, the more contested it becomes. This is because it necessarily deals
with issues of conflicting agendas and ideologies, power, organizational structure and
the training and status of professionals. It is partly for this reason that the literature
about children and participation contrasts sharply with the adult literature. There are
relatively few examples of thorough programmes to consider children as advocates.
The notion of changing institutional structures to advocate for children is contested,
especially in relation to notions of democracy, citizenship and children’s’ rights
(Aynsley-Green
et al.
, 2000). Recent literature addresses the devaluing of children’s
perspectives and calls for children’s voices to be heard (Dockett, 2000). Some of the
barriers that make it difficult to hear children’s voices may be:
(1) The centrality in public opinion and politics of arguments emphasizing the
responsibilities of family, parents and other adults for children (Aynsley-Green
et al.
, 2000).
(2) Institutional and professional structures with a tradition of doing things for and
to children (Kalnins
et al.
, 1992; de Winter
et al.
, 1999).
(3) The assumption that, due to their developmental stage, children must be
nurtured, guided and educated but not given adult-like responsibility (de Winter
et al.
, 1999).
(4) The idea that children cannot contribute to debates about their needs and the
needs of other children derived from the observation that they lack the capacity
for abstract thinking that characterizes later adolescence and adulthood (Connell
et al.
, 1975).

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C. MacDougal
et al.
(5) The suspicion that standard research methods (such as interviewing) may not be
applicable to children and that the most appropriate methodology for needs
assessments is to seek the opinions of significant adults such as parents and
service providers (Kalnins
et al.
, 1992; Sandbaek, 1999).
(6) The assumption that children can be treated like mini adults in human service
campaigns and interventions (Kalnins
et al.
, 1992). Under this assumption,
programmes for adults are modified for children by changing language and
images, but not the underlying principles.
Helping children to articulate their opinions about the environment and stimulat-
ing the development of social responsibility is a crucial, but often forgotten, factor in
the prevention of psychosocial problems and promotion of health and well-being for
children. Thus a serious dialogue with children about matters concerning the quality
of life should be considered not only a basic right, but also a precondition for the
promotion of health and well-being (de Winter
et al.
, 1999).
The development of children and young people is now described as a process of
interaction between individual and environment, taking place within a given culture
and context. Children grow psychologically in response to the physical, cultural and
social circumstances they encounter (Bricher, 1999).
Methodology
Research paradigm
The choice of the research paradigm was important. Quantitative methods are effec-
tive for measuring levels of physical activity across time, place and age, and for deter-
mining associations with demographic, psychological, social and environmental
factors. Quantitative methods can also contribute to the assessment of impact and
outcome of campaigns and strategies (Baum, 2002). However, this research deals
with a very new area of inquiry that required an understanding of how children, at a
particular developmental stage, experience, describe and respond to the notion of
physical activity. Qualitative methods, informed by a constructivist paradigm (Crotty,
1998), became the methods of choice for gaining a deep understanding of children’s
descriptions and experiences of physical activity. This qualitative research should lead
to ideas that are available to further investigations combining various mixes of quali-
tative and quantitative methods. However, at this stage of knowledge, quantitative
methods are inappropriate and qualitative methods are favoured.
Focus groups and mapping
We used focus groups because they reflect the way children form ideas about their
world by discussing topics and experiences in a group; frequently as part of the teach-
ing process. Therefore, focus groups in the school setting were a natural way to
conduct research. To plan our focus groups, we used our experience in research
methods and child development to take into account effects of group dynamics, peer

We have to live in the future
373
pressure, gender dynamics and stage of development in the generation of discussion
in the group. We took into account and modified good practice to apply to this age
group in sampling (MacDougall & Fudge, 2001) and the issue of the group dynamics
in planning and interpreting focus groups (MacDougall & Baum, 1997).
At the end of each focus group we invited children to draw and discuss a map of
the social and physical environments in which they are most likely to participate in
physical activity. Mapping elicited individual responses, individual interpretations
and used non-verbal methods of eliciting information. It also allowed free responses
and individual interpretations of the questions from the focus groups. Mapping
allowed children to use a graphic expressive technique to elaborate on verbal
concepts. Mapping also provided the opportunity for children to position themselves
in the family, school and community. In some groups, we introduced an additional
drawing task, inviting children to draw images or write slogans that could encourage
other children to be more physically active.
Detailed notes about process, context and discussion were taken during each focus
group by a non-participating observer, then transcribed and discussed with the facil-
itators before being confirmed and the facilitators then annotated maps with relevant
explanations.
Photovoice
For photovoice (Morrow, 2001), we invited children from focus groups to help us
further by taking photographs with a disposable camera that we provided. We
selected children (including some with high and low activity and others on the basis
of their maps), then provided them with a form and information sheet to take home
seeking consent for us to provide a disposable camera for the children to use. We
asked children, with adult supervision if necessary, to take photographs over the next
week and to write a brief caption for each photograph, saying why they took it and
what the photograph meant to them in relation to physical activity. Photovoice was
designed to generate different and complementary information because of its visual
(rather than verbal) nature and its potential to sharpen a focus on people and places
that were important to individual children at home, at school and in the community.
Interviews with salient adults
We interviewed a sample of adults from the children’s schools (Table 1) and sought
their reaction to the responses emerging from interviews with children.
Table 1. Sample of seven adults
Place People
Rural primary school 1 Principal
Rural primary school 2 Principal
Metropolitan primary school Principal and three teachers

374
C. MacDougal
et al.
Quality and ethics
The principal researchers were all very experienced so they conducted most inter-
views with children and adults and analysed all the data. The South Australia Depart-
ment of Human Services set up a local reference group that assisted the researchers
and commented on the research. Formally constituted ethics committees at Flinders
University, University of South Australia, and the Department of Education,
Employment and Training approved the research design. The researchers established
a technical reference group of international collaborators to assist with the research
methodology and interpretation of data.
A requirement for rigour in qualitative research is triangulation of research meth-
ods. We used four data collection methods to triangulate data and to gain information
from different modalities. Further requirements for rigour are researcher and disci-
pline triangulation (Baum, 2002). Each of the three chief investigators is from a
different discipline background and so brought discipline triangulation to the data
analysis. In addition, we involved coresearchers, from a range of disciplines, in devel-
oping coding frames, liaised with the project’s reference group and consulted with the
international collaborators as needed.
Rationale for sampling and original estimate of sample
Sampling in qualitative research is purposive and theoretical (Baum, 2002; Crotty,
1998), so in this study the sample comprised children aged 8–12 years, from low
socioeconomic rural and metropolitan areas, with an emphasis on those with low
levels of physical activity. We sampled from schools because the school is both an
institution that most children attend and an important contributor to physical activ-
ity. Guided by the saturation principle, we stopped sampling when we were no longer
gaining new ideas or themes from the analysis of data. If taken to its logical extreme,
however, adherence to the saturation principle would have made it difficult for us to
propose a sample size, time line and budget. Therefore we used our experience as
researchers to suggest a sample size to enable planning to take place.
The research plan originally estimated a sample of 10–20 focus groups, averaging
eight children aged 8–12 years per group, from six to 14 schools; or 80–160 children,
40–80 children who would be asked to draw maps and 12 for photovoice. However,
based on early experience in focus groups, we revised this and asked all children in
focus groups to draw maps. In some groups, we offered more children the opportu-
nity to use photovoice than others because of the group dynamics and level of interest.
We offered cameras to children on the basis of them being judged high or low in phys-
ical activity, as well as demonstrating interesting features in their maps. We estimated
a sample of 8–10 salient adults from schools in individual and small group interviews.
Table 2 presents the distribution of the sample of 204 children in focus groups and
the mapping exercise by year and gender. In all but three groups (Ridgehaven Primary
and Fisk St Primary Student Representative Council and St Teresa’s Primary Year 3/
4) there were about equal numbers of boys and girls.

We have to live in the future
375
Results
This section summarizes the overall results (Table 3) and discusses in more detail
children’s views about the future, and issues on which they tended to disagree with
common adult views.
Sport: meaning and decisions
‘Sport’ was immediately recognized in all focus groups with a distinctive meaning
making it difficult to move the discussion to other topics. Sport was not distinguished
from other terms merely by the activities involved, but because of the affect of
purpose and competition (although fun was sometimes involved). Children perceived
that talent for a sport was essential if they were to be selected for a sporting team.
Then they needed the capacity to train and pay for transport and equipment—which
was beyond the reach of many children interviewed.
The following excerpt from Metropolitan School C is typical of the way the word
‘sport’ had a particular meaning and was powerful in keeping the discussion in line
with that meaning:
Table 2. Sample of children: 204 in focus groups and mapping and 32 in photovoice
School Focus group and
mapping
Male Female Photo
voice
Male Female
Ridgehaven Primary Year 3/4 5 5
Ridgehaven Primary SRC 3–7 3 9
Ridgehaven Primary Year 6/7 boys 13 0
Ridgehaven Primary Year 6/7 girls 0 13
Reynella South Primary Year 3–7 2 5 7 2 5
St Teresa’s Primary (rural) Year 2/3 3 3 3 1 2
St Teresa’s Primary Year 3/4 7 12 4 1 3
St Teresa’s Primary Year 4/5 6 6 1 1
St Teresa’s Primary Year 5/6 7 7 2 1 1
St Teresa’s Primary Year 6/7 5 5 2 1 1
Gillies Plains Primary Year 2/3 and year 4/5 5 6 7 4 3
Gillies Plains Primary Year 6/7 boys 10 0 2 2
Gillies Plains Primary Year 6/7 girls 0 11 4 4
Paralowie (primary) Year 2/3 5 4 n/a
Paralowie (primary) Year 5/6 4 6 n/a
Paralowie (primary) Junior Council 12 11 n/a
Fisk St Primary (rural) SRC R-7 3 11
Total 90 114 32 13 19
Notes: In South Australia children commence school at age 5 in reception, then move through years 1–12.
There are more children than cameras because some cameras were given to groups. Cameras were not
distributed at Paralowie.

376
C. MacDougal
et al.
Table 3. Summary of results from children
Theme ‘Sport’ ‘Play’ ‘Physical activity’, ‘exercise’,
‘fitness’
a
Words and images: top of
mind recognition
Immediate and distinctive Immediate and distinctive:
frequently energises children
Takes time to recognize
Difficult to distinguish from ‘sport’
and ‘play’
Activities Team sports, individual sports Group games and individual games Mixture of activities included under
‘sport’ and ‘play’ as well as a broader
range
Games, play Sports, individual activities
Socializing
Engagement and affect High, enduring engagement High, enduring engagement No engagement, no distinctive affect
Affect of purpose, competition,
organization, often fun (not
always)
Affect of fun, freedom,
spontaneity, energy and physicality
‘Physical activity’ is an adult word
not used by children
‘Exercise’ can connote work,
purpose, lack of fun
Choice, planning and
decision-making styles
Adult-led, pre-planned rule-bound Child-centred, spontaneous and
avoiding boredom
No distinctive theme: mixes adult
and child-centred decisions
Hierarchical decisions,
power-over
Plan and adjust as they go
Democratic decisions,
power-
with
Place, equipment and
facilities
School, indoor and outdoor
facilities
School, home, friend’s houses,
parks
No distinctive theme
Equipment as per rules Improvise with available
equipment
Travel arrangements

We have to live in the future
377
Action: enablers and
barriers
Enablers Enablers
No distinctive theme.
Some mention of ‘Just do it’Adults to organize and transport Adult encouragement
Facilities, clubs and equipment Culture of democratic decision-
making
Parental modelling Time and space and enough
equipment
Barriers Barriers
Injuries Not as popular with Year 6/7
Cost, distance and travel Arguments
Lack of facilities, clubs
Bullying, put-downs, humiliation,
gender issues
Advocacy and effective
messages
Fun and friends Fun, friends No distinctive theme actions
Children as role models Adult encouragement
Famous people talking about
children or childhood
Show opportunities and
possibilities
a
Fitness was more distinctive but was associated with slogans and clichés about health, without a detailed understanding.

378
C. MacDougal
et al.
Question: When physical activity is mentioned, what do you think about?
Answer: Running, exercise, all different sports.
Question: What types of sport would you be thinking of?
Answer: Soccer, swimming, football, basketball, netball, all the games that I play.
Question: Can you talk to me about exercise, do you think differently?
Answer: Weight-lifting/gym, muscle building, running/treadmill, people walking,
stretching & warming-up, gym circuits, meditating, Taibo.
Question: If we talk about fitness, what do you think of?
Answer: Running around generally, fitness levels, walking/power walking, running/laps
of the oval, long distance running, sport, how fit you are/fitness levels.
Question: Any difference between sport and fitness activity?
Answer: Both come under the one bracket.
In this example, when the facilitator included the term ‘sport’ in the first question,
the discussion turned to predominantly organized team sport. These meanings
persisted despite question about ‘exercise’ and ‘fitness’. Only when the facilitator
asked about ‘play’ did the meaning change. Throughout this and the other three focus
groups at Metropolitan School C, the dominant meanings of physical activity were
associated with sport and it was difficult to get a broader discussion of physical
activity on the agenda.
Figure 1. ‘Mind map’ of play and fun from a student council of 5–11 year olds at a metropolitan
school

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A powerful discriminator between ‘sport’ and other terms was the way choices were
made. Adults were influential in making these choices, often within predetermined
rules that required particular facilities and equipment. Adults were also important to
provide money, resources, time and transport. Considerable school and community
investment in clubs and facilities is necessary to maintain sport.
Map by rural nine-year-old girl of places for play and sport
When Metropolitan School D year 5 and 6 boys and girls were asked who decides
about sport they all said ‘teachers’, and some then said ‘boring’. At Metropolitan
School B, boys aged 11–13 years said ‘Themselves, parents’. One boy illustrated a
common role for parents when he said: ‘I choose they pay!’
Year 3/4 at Rural School B said that for sport ‘the fairest is the captain, the one who
doesn’t muck around. The coach picks them’. In terms of who organizes sport, they
said: ‘Coaches, teachers organise, Mum and Dad might organise, go at a particular
time, the president of club, the captain of team might organise’.
Play: meaning and decisions
The meaning of ‘play’ was immediately recognizable in all focus groups as different
from sport, physical activity and fitness. While distinctive, play did not dominate
because discussion of play could move to discussion of sport and physical activity,
Figure 2. ‘Mind map’ of play and fun from a student council of 5–11 year olds at a metropolitan
school

380
C. MacDougal
et al.
then back to play. Play, however, had a powerful enough meaning for children to
counteract sport’s distinctive attributes by moving the group discussion from sport to
play. The terms ‘physical activity’, ‘exercise’ and ‘fitness’ could not do this.
Mind map of play and fun from a student council of 5—11 year olds at a metropolitan school
Play was distinguished by ‘fun’, ‘spontaneity’, ‘interactions with friends’, ‘not too
competitive’, ‘not too aggressive’. For example, we saw earlier that at Metropolitan
School C children from years 3–7 in the student representative council persistently
defined physical activity in sporting terms. The following example repeats the earlier
quotation about sport and physical activity, but introduces a question about ‘play’,
with the new responses outlined in bold. It is important to note the way ‘play’ imme-
diately changed the meaning of physical activity, introducing the importance of fun,
friends, spontaneity and less structured activities:
Question: When physical activity is mentioned, what do you think about?
Answer: Running, exercise, all different sports.
Question: What types of sport would you be thinking of?
Answer: Soccer, swimming, football, basketball, netball, all the games that I play.
Question: Can you talk to me about exercise, do you think differently?
Answer: Weight-lifting/gym, muscle building, running/treadmill, people walking,
stretching & warming-up, gym circuits, meditating, Taibo.
Figure 3. Photovoice: 11-year-old girl’s photograph of play

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381
Question: If we talk about fitness, what do you think of?
Answer: Running around generally, fitness levels, walking/power walking, running/
laps of the oval, long distance running, sport, how fit you are/fitness levels.
Question: Any difference between sport and fitness activity?
Answer: Both come under the one bracket.
Question: If I mention play, what would you think about?
Answer: Games, climbing equipment, 4-square, hop-scotch, skipping,
running, stuck-in-the-mud, ball-games, light sports/no rough play,
playing with friends, it is more fun being with friends/more boring
without friends, wider range of choices when with friends, play, fun,
not too competitively, small groups of friends, can become too aggres-
sive or competitively with too many people.
Photovoice: 11-year-old girl s photograph of play
Another example, from Years 5/6 Metropolitan School D, shows in bold the ener-
gizing effect of the term ‘play’ and the way play is powerful enough to move the
discussion away from sport:
Question: What does sport mean?
Answer: Netball, soccer, basketball, archery, football, tennis, volleyball, hockey,
badminton, track running, table tennis, swimming, skiing, horse riding, golf,
lawn bowls, bocce, hiking, dancing, kayaking, speedway, bike riding, extreme
sports, car racing, lap swimming, walking, exercise, running.
Injury.
Winning and losing.
Question: What does play mean?
Answer: [Immediately all children sat up and their body language showed
excitement and energy]
Fun.
Performing.
No learning.
Enjoyment.
Running around.
No policemen.
Takes out the anger, if angry at teachers go out and have fun.
When we mentioned ‘play’ in a younger group of seven to eight year olds at a
metropolitan school, one boy stood up, put up his hand and asked if he could do a
role-play. He then demonstrated running around and playing chasey, to the delight
of the group. We then encouraged children to move around, by jumping on the spot
during the discussion and regularly breaking in to a game of chasey: this became
known as the ‘jumping focus group!’
Play, however, is not always physical. It can also include reading, watching tele-
vision (TV), talking, playing alone with toys/games, dolls or stuffed animals. A
number of focus groups mused, somewhat quizzically, that ‘you play sport’, as if
they had trouble putting the two words together. In play, adults do not direct but

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encourage without having to provide extensive resources. A powerful distinguishing
characteristic of play is the way choices and decisions are made. Children choose,
using processes that demonstrate age and gender differences. Children own play,
and adjust the way they play depending on the numbers, abilities and preferences of
children involved. They also take into account available facilities, equipment and the
need to avoid boredom. Facilities and equipment certainly facilitate play, but do not
have to be as prescriptive as those required for sport. Play reflected interactions
between aged groups and a sense of neighbourhood and community.
When we examined how children choose activities at Metropolitan School C, the
student representative council, years 3–7, said they ‘talk it over with friends, discuss
what to do, occurs spontaneously, depends on the sporting or play equipment avail-
able at the time, may join in game already under way’. In another junior council from
Reception to Year 6 at Metropolitan School D, the group agreed that children decide
on rules for play and adults decide rules for sport. They said that, for play, children
in groups take turns at choosing a leader, make up a game and try to make it easy or
fun. The student representative council (reception–year 7) at Rural School A said:
‘Sometimes [a teacher] gives choices, but if there are no teachers they choose what
most want to play’. They also suggested they ‘put up their hands, get ideas, use a
roster, and vote [for younger children]’. They also said ‘if it is not what you want to
do, put up with it or do something else’.
We asked children variations on: Where do you play? What do you do? Who
chooses what you will play? How? Year 2/3 children at Rural School B answered as
follows:
Shared playground, everyone gets a turn [all kids agree].
Choice of activity might have a bit of vote, majority rules.
Sometimes one chooses.
Some play on the see saw, some do other things.
Can do more than one thing during lunch time.
Play with two or three/three or four different people.
Play with about seven people.
Play different things.
Children want adults to love, listen and laugh with them
Children participated enthusiastically and enjoyed the research process. Year 6/7 chil-
dren strongly argued that they wanted to be heard and often were not listened to.
Older children articulated their desire to be treated as teenagers or young adults—for
example, by moving from modified to adult rules and being consulted. Some of the
ideas from children may surprise, or provide a different perspective from adult
discourses. We told the year 5/6 group at Paralowie Primary that we would present
our findings to a committee. We asked what we should say, and the children replied
with the following ideas:
Adults don’t listen.
Adults should be kids, show how we feel about things.
Stop talking about politics.

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383
Tell adults who is boss.
Be kids.
Enjoy life.
Make a life.
Parents’ actions show us, sometimes they are wrong.
Stop talking about money and tell us what the future is going to be.
Experience it for themselves.
Talk about this research on the news.
Tell them to come and talk to us for a day.
Tell parents to love and care for us and not just to care about themselves.
We have to live in the future.
When we asked Paralowie’s reception–year 6 student representative council the
same question, they replied: ‘Always have fun. Make new games.’
Children’s views on TV as an enemy of physical activity
Children did not consider TV and computer games as barriers to physical activity.
They see them as consistently coexisting and often promoting activity. Most
expressed surprise and incredulity when we told them that many adults described TV
and computer games as barriers to physical activity. They described a world in which
homework, TV, the computer, sport and play could and should coexist. At the same
time, they appreciated rules and guidelines for the TV and computer, and some
expressed a desire for adults to take more control. Many were moved to try physical
activity after seeing options on TV. Others said they could only watch TV for so long
(often when bored) before wanting to play. Yet others combined activity and televi-
sion by recording programmes to watch after they had enjoyed play or sport.
For example, rural School B years 3/4 said that ‘TV gets started me started on
sports. I watch my favourite TV show or do sport on another day. I do both. TV is
better. I watch videos then do stuff after. I watch TV then go out and play.’ The junior
council at Metropolitan School D said ‘there are more fun things than watching TV
all day’ and … ‘rules were no TV until homework is done. You can do play and watch
TV as well, can do both’.
Famous adults as role models
Children were divided about the value of using famous adults when promoting phys-
ical activity. Those who said it would work argued adults would have to refer to chil-
dren or their own childhood. Rural School B years 4/5 were asked ‘How can we
persuade others to participate in physical activity?’ They suggested: ‘Use famous
people. Meet them and they can teach sport—teach and tell people. We would believe
them. Show about being fit and unfit—show how good it is to be fit’.
On the other hand, the year 5/6 group at Rural School B was asked, in small groups,
to design campaigns increase children’s participation in sport. One small group
suggested using famous people, while others in the larger group said it would not
work. We asked what would happen if Wayne Carey (a famous Australian Football

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et al.
League footballer who was in the rural area at the time) walked in and said ‘you
should play football’. They immediately said they would not. However, they might if
they heard Wayne Carey talking about when he was a kid, or they might if he said
what happens if they did not play sport.
Children’s links between physical activity and health status
Many adults understand the arguments about links between physical activity and
health status, including the notion of a desirable minimum amount of activity (Wright
et al.
, 1996). In contrast, we found that children were unclear about how active they
were in comparison with others, or whether they should do more physical activity.
Some older children missed school-based physical activity when it was reduced to
make way for more academic subjects.
Children did not have detailed interest in and understandings of health benefits of
physical activity. Some mentioned weight, others fitness and others visits to the
doctor. However, when questioned further, children could not elaborate on these
links, Furthermore, when one group discussed messages to increase physical activity
they said that showing adult health problems of low physical activity ‘would not work’
and ‘we would not want to see that’. It is thus unlikely that strategies heavily based
on health arguments would have high recognition or engagement.
At Metropolitan School B year 6/7 boys were asked ‘What do you think we should
do to encourage more children to be more active?’ They replied ‘… tell them the good
things about exercise—eg it’s good for you, fun, do it or you’ll die, good for your
muscles’. However, these are very vague statements. Another group, at Metropolitan
School A, said ‘Sport is having fun, something to do with your body. Keep fit and
healthy.’ We prompted ‘In what way?’ The reply was ‘Keep body working better, stop
being stiff, do more before getting a stitch’.
Discussion
If children’s views are going to help shape their futures, adult researchers need to
listen to these views, conduct further research where necessary and consider how chil-
dren’s views can inform and shape practice. Three findings from our research shed
some light on how children’s views can shape their futures: the quality of children’s
participation, the centrality in play of child-centred decisions and rules and emerging
ideas from children that could take their place on the research agenda.
First, the results reveal enthusiastic participation by children, their desire to be
heard and a range of ideas that, at first glance, seem novel for adult researchers. These
results fit with current thinking that one way to enrich children’s psychosocial devel-
opment is to expand and facilitate the possibilities for children to participate actively
in their environment. The emerging social competence model of child development
tries to enlarge the extent to which young persons are capable of responding
adequately in their environment in day-to-day contacts. This contrasts with a defi-
ciency model that largely determines the way of thinking and acting in child health

We have to live in the future
385
care (de Winter
et al.
, 1999). From the perspective of child health promotion this atti-
tude helps teach people from a young age that they are not being considered as impor-
tant social subjects, whose opinions and involvement really matter. On the contrary,
they are clearly given the message that they are they are not worth listening to and that
the institutions of society are anonymous entities that decide for them. From a devel-
opmental point of view, this denial of children’s participation is to be considered a risk
factor for adequate social and moral development as well as for the emergence of
psychological problems (de Winter
et al.
, 1999). There is little doubt that children ‘…
are a special population about which we know very little’ (Seefeldt, 1984). Therefore,
if we accept the principle that health promotion must address problems perceived by
the public as important in the context of their everyday lives, we must seek to under-
stand health as children themselves see it and within that their own relevant social
contexts (Kalnins et al., 1992).
Second, children’s participation gives rise to potentially useful distinctions such as
the results about the principal differences between sport and play. Our results show
that play is much more child focused than sport, involving spontaneous decisions and
rules made for and by children. Moreover, results suggest that mixing images of play
and sport could be counter productive.
The third way in which we can use children’s views to shape their futures is to add
to our research agenda ideas generated by children where, for example, our research
suggested that children do not share the strong adult belief that TV and computers
form barriers to physical activity. They are ambivalent about using adult sporting
figures as role models. Interestingly, even when focus groups probed for more infor-
mation, children did not demonstrate clear and persuasive connections between
improved health status and increased physical activity. These findings deserve a place
on the research agenda because they each refer to ideas that are often accepted by
adults as being relevant for children, when they may have no place in a child’s sense
of the world.
Conclusion
Children have clear ideas about the places and spaces they occupy comfortably in
their home, school and community. Their maps and photographs showed emotional
attachments to these spaces and places. Play is a common denominator, is accessible
and is owned by children. No other concept comes close in children’s minds. Physical
activity and exercise are adult concepts that mean organized activities. Sport requires
talent, training and costs to the family.
Children were delighted for their voices and ideas to be heard. Their participation
in the research demonstrates the salience and potential of the emergent sociology of
childhood (James & Prout, 1997; Morrow, 2003), which emphasizes children as
being active social agents who shape the structures and processes around them (at
least at the micro-level). Strategies to increase physical activity should therefore cast
children not as passive recipients of directives from parents, teachers, other adult
influencers and their environmental settings, but as active influencers over their social

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et al.
and physical worlds. This is important because, as United Nations Secretary General
and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Kofi Annan said, ‘Tomorrow’s world is already taking
shape in the body and spirit of our children’.
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by a grant from Health Promotion South Australia in the
South Australia Department of Human Services. This research could not have been
possible without the willing and enthusiastic participation of the children whose
voices are heard in this report. Their parents/guardians gave consent, while their
schools and teachers welcomed us and worked hard to make the research possible.
The authors have consulted with a South Australia Department of Human Services
Reference Group, international contributors and many friends and colleagues. They
received valuable feedback on methods and data analysis from Professor David
Gallahue, Dean, School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Indiana
University and Dr Virginia Morrow (London School of Economics then Brunel
University). Thanks to those who directly contributed to running focus groups:
Professor Freda Briggs, Donna Broadhurst, Roman Broadhurst, Tiffany Gill and
Sarah Prince. Administrative staff worked hard to help us organize the research and
the final report.
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