Every day we'd have an arranged activity, so she'd have football, swimming, dance, gymnastics
A sociological analysis of parenting and sports-based enrichment activities for the under-fives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2378852 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Philippa Velija (0000-0001-7689-4803, University of Roehampton, London, UK, corresponding author), Georgia Allen (0000-0003-0778-7558, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 903-920 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Review for the Sociology of Sport (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1012-6902 • E-ISSN: 1461-7218 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/10126902241238236 |
| OpenAlex | W4394622079 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 24 |
In this article we provide a sociological analysis of parental choice in pre-school sports and physical activity, as a form of concerted cultivation, to understand the uptake of sports-based physical activity (PA) enrichment activities in England. Despite a growth in the under-five pre-school enrichment market, little is known about why parents pay for their under-five child(ren) to participate in sport and/or PA enrichment or how this relates to wider patterns seen in contemporary parenting. 24 semi-structured interviews with parents of early years children from across England were conducted. Findings suggest the reasons why parents enrol their child(ren) in sports-based enrichment activities can be considered a form of concerted cultivation. In particular, parents value routine and socialisation for themselves and their children. Parents look for paid-for activities that enhance their child's social and academic skills but do not emphasise the health benefits of being physically active as important in their decision making. Instead, they prioritise opportunities to enhance their child's social and cultural skills in ways that enable the child(ren) to be accepted and interact positively with adults and other children in key institutional settings. Parents also valued spaces where their young child(ren) could expend energy, although the importance of this was distinctly gendered. We conclude by outlining that paying for under-fives sport-based enrichment is linked to wider social and cultural expectations on parenting, and highlighting that more needs to be understood about the gendered, racialised and ableist spaces of commercial pre-school sport and PA
Advertising · Art · Business · Dance · Football · Geography · Sociology · Sociology of sport · Visual arts · Child Therapy and Development · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Psychology · Youth Development and Social Support
Childcare, Choice and Class Practices
Unequal Childhoods
Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis
Understanding parents’ motives for, and beliefs about, enrolling three-to-five-year-old children into organised sporting programs
Taught not caught
‘The helping, the fixtures, the kits, the gear, the gum shields, the food, the snacks, the waiting, the rain, the car rides … ’
Conforming to intensive parenting ideals
Intensive mothering’ in the early years
We just thought everyone else is going so we might as well’
Parents perceptions of online physical activity and leisure with early years children during Covid-19 and beyond
Parenting in relation to children’s sports participation
Organized Youth Sport and Parenting in Public and Private Spaces
Early years learning, play pedagogy and social class
Between the estate and the state
Parenting priorities and pressures
Getting Ahead in the Preschool Years
Making Up' the Middle-Class Child
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |