Abstract
ABSTRACT The first case of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was diagnosed in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. By the end of March 2020, 136 countries had positive COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, in response to the virus, countries instigated various forms of ‘lock-downs’ and social distancing measures. Globally, children and adolescents could not meet and play or hang out with their friends as they did pre-pandemic. These changes essentially drove children (4–18 years) indoors for their play and recreation needs, instigating significant changes in the lives and day-to-day routines of children almost simultaneously in and across national borders. To understand the impact of these changes to children's play worlds and friendship groups, an online questionnaire was developed for children and parents and rolled out in Ireland, Italy, the United States, and England during the summer of 2020 following ethical approvals. The questionnaire consisted of qualitative (open ended) and quantitative (closed) questions, and this paper focuses on the changes to children's (4–18 years) indoor play. We found that the various ‘lock-downs’ and social distancing measures created largely similar impacts on play behaviors and activities in each developed country, irrespective of culture, the globally did indeed become ‘local’. Moreover, playing in ‘safe settings’ such as the home environment, may have helped to build resilience and to enhance protective factors in children's lives as opposed to a demonstration of global homogeneity [merriam-webster.com]. The impact of ‘lock-downs’ may counter-intuitively have reduced opportunities for cooperative play and parents' mediation of play due to increased parental responsibilities (working from home, home schooling) which reduced the time available to spend with children in non-school activities, including play.
Highlights
Children1 are not the face of this pandemic, its wide-ranging effects risk being catastrophic to children with long-term consequences (UNICEF, 2020)
We argue that whilst children and adolescents are directly affected by globalization experienced in their daily lives through their social networking, friendship groups, play activities, and wider cultural influences on their lifestyles, these homogenizing influences do not create a single world culture and similar play activities may not be experienced in the same way across borders
The children’s average age varied between the two samples; this result was not surprising. Artistic play such as arts and crafts increased by 55.3% in the 4–14 age group and 53.6% in the 10–18 age group. This indoor play activity had the highest increase for both age groups once you exclude just hanging about (59.3% increase in 4–14 age group and 62.6% in 10–18 age group)
Summary
Children are not the face of this pandemic, its wide-ranging effects risk being catastrophic to children with long-term consequences (UNICEF, 2020). In March 2020, the lives and normal daily routines of children, as well as their parents, was change to disrupted This was compounded by social restrictions on with whom and where children could play. Children’s access to and lived experience in the outdoors was severely and abruptly curtailed The loss of these familiar outdoor spaces for playing and socializing with friends is impactful (Barron, 2018; Barron & Emmett, 2020) and this loss was accompanied by new dangers, such as contracting or transmitting COVID-19, with the implication that outdoor play became hazardous. We argue that whilst children and adolescents are directly affected by globalization experienced in their daily lives through their social networking, friendship groups, play activities, and wider cultural influences on their lifestyles, these homogenizing influences do not create a single world culture and similar play activities may not be experienced in the same way across borders
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