What does your child want to be when they grow up?
Traditionally, most young girls and boys dream of becoming a doctor, a fireman or even a pop star, but thanks to the Summer of sport, one in four children have now said that they want to be an athlete when they grow up.
According to a study undertaken as part of the Make Time to Play campaign, 46 per cent of parents have noticed their children being more active following The Games as they develop skills to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah.
The thought of representing their country whilst competing against other athletes from around the world put the idea of becoming a premier football player to second place (19 per cent), followed by becoming a doctor in third place (14 per cent) with only five per cent of children wanting to be a famous actor.
It is important to provide children with other opportunities to be active and parents should consider and explore ways in which this can be done within the confines of family life
And it is not just children who are hoping for gold in their future career, 16 per cent of parents also hold onto a dream of their children becoming athletes, after being inspired by the sporting events. Despite this dream, a quarter of parents admit working hours have prevented them from getting their kids involved in sporting activities.
The new research also revealed that despite half of parents being inspired to get their children involved, 86 per cent will not actively spend time themselves teaching sport to their children instead relying on other sources.
However, certain barriers are preventing parents from helping their children to get involved in sport, including one in four saying they do not have accessible facilities in their local area, a third needing more outdoor areas near to them and a quarter finding that sports clubs are too expensive. What's more, almost a third believe their children are also too busy to take part in sport due to too much homework.
The results also showed that this summer has, however, inspired parents to get their children more involved in sport with 92 per cent aiming to increase their child’s sporting activities as they return to school.
Almost a third of parents questioned will do so by relying on PE lessons, but, research by the British Toy and Hobby Association for the Make Time to Play campaign, and the Institute of Youth Sport at Loughborough University, found that children are not necessarily more active during PE lessons. Instead, active play can be the most engaging form of activity for kids.
During the ‘Make Time to Play’ experiment, children were moderately or vigorously active for almost twice as long when given toys and cardboard boxes to play with than in the school PE lessons that were monitored.
Dr Rebecca Duncombe, from the Institute of Youth Sport at Loughborough University said: “PE lessons should not be relied upon to provide young people with their recommended amounts of physical activity (an hour each day). At present, schools are encouraged to provide two hours per week of high quality physical education, but this includes time for instruction, demonstration and feedback and, as illustrated by our research, young people are not active for the whole of their lesson.
“It is important to provide children with other opportunities to be active and parents should consider and explore ways in which this can be done within the confines of family life, for example, encouraging them to engage in active play, accompanying their children on bike rides, walking them to school and taking them to the park," she added.
Through a dedicated Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/maketimetoplay and FREE downloadable app called Make Time 2 Play parents can help their children achieve their dreams of becoming an athlete through tips on how to get their children to have an hour of active play a day.
The current top ten career choices for children are:
1. Athlete
2. Football Player
3. Doctor
4. Ballerina
5. Hairdresser
6. Pop star
7. Fireman
8. Zookeeper
9. Actor
10. Businessman
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