‘You have to do 60 minutes of physical activity per day … I saw it on TV ’

Children's constructions of play in the context of Canadian public health discourse of playing for health

Dados Bibliográficos

ID17546151
AutoresStephanie A Alexander (School of Public Health University of Montréal Canada), Stéphanie Alexander (0000-0003-0445-0116, Université de Montréal, autor correspondente), Caroline Fusco (0000-0002-4807-4995, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education University of Toronto Canada), Katherine L Frohlich (0000-0002-5519-2455, School of Public Health University of Montréal Canada)
Ano2015
Volume37
Fascículo2
Páginas227-240
Data de publicação2015-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.12179
PMID25677189
OpenAlexW2151330428
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas21

Public health institutions in many industrialised countries have been launching calls to address childhood obesity. As part of these efforts, Canadian physical activity campaigns have recently introduced children's play as a critical component of obesity prevention strategies. We consider this approach problematic as it may reshape the meanings and affective experiences of play for children. Drawing on the analytical concept of biopedagogies, we place Canadian public health discourse on play in dialogue with children's constructions of play to examine first, how play is promoted within obesity prevention strategies and second, whether children take up this public health discourse. Our findings suggest that: (i) the public health discourse on active play is taken up and reproduced by some children. However, for other children sedentary play is important for their social and emotional wellbeing; (ii) while active play is deemed to be a solution to the risk of obesity, it also embodies contradictions over risk in play, which children have to negotiate. We argue that the active play discourse, which valorises some representations of play (that is, active) while obscuring others (that is, sedentary), is reshaping meanings of play for children, and that this may have unintended consequences for children's wellbeing

Childhood obesity · Context (archaeology) · Developmental psychology · Discourse analysis · Negotiation · Obesity · Overweight · Public health · Social science · Sociology · Children's Rights and Participation · Early Childhood Education and Development · Gender Studies · History · Medicine · Nursing · Obesity and Health Practices · Psychology