{"id":593,"date":"2004-11-17T08:46:27","date_gmt":"2004-11-17T16:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2004\/11\/theyre_busy_but_happy_about_it\/"},"modified":"2004-11-17T08:46:27","modified_gmt":"2004-11-17T16:46:27","slug":"theyre_busy_but_happy_about_it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/theyre_busy_but_happy_about_it.php","title":{"rendered":"They&#8217;re busy, but happy about it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new study from Public Agenda, sponsored by the Wallace Foundation, explores the motivations and realities of after-school programming for kids (there&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/msnbc.msn.com\/id\/6496436\/\">a news article about it here<\/a>, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wallacefoundation.org\/WF\/KnowledgeCenter\/KnowledgeTopics\/Out-Of-SchoolLearning\/AllWorkAndNoPlay.htm\">full report is available here<\/a>). The study surveyed 609 middle and high-school students and 1,003 parents to discover what they were up to after school, how they chose the options they chose, and why they did anything, at all.<\/p>\n<p>\nAmong the findings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Well over half the students surveyed (57%) say they participate in some kind of out-of-school activity or program every day or almost every day, and another 37% say they do so a couple of days a week. Almost 8 in 10 (79%) say they do things both on school days and on weekends.\n<li>Sports were the most popular of after-school activities (66%), followed by school clubs or school activities (62%), but lessons in music, dance, and art came out strong as well (52%).\n<li>The overwhelming majority of students (85%) say kids who participate in organized activities such as a team or a club after school are &#8216;better off&#8217; than those who have a lot of time to themselves after school.\n<li>Minority and low-income households had less access to appropriate activities.\n<\/ul>\n<p>Motivation to participate in after-school activities ranged from nudging to nurturing, according to the report:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Approximately 9 in 10 students (89%) agree with the statement, &#8216;Even though I might complain about it, sometimes I need to be pushed by my parents to do things that are good for me&#8217; &#8212; with 62% saying they agree strongly.\n<li>Asked to choose among the following four options, only 15% of parents say the best reason is to improve how well kids do in school; 41% say it&#8217;s to develop interests and hobbies; 27% to keep kids busy and out of trouble; 16% to have fun.\n<\/ul>\n<p>Arts organizations in many cities are major purveyors of after-school options&#8230;from private lessons, to theater classes, to craft and visual art experiences. And it&#8217;s an area with growth potential, as more and more communities &#8212; and the federal government &#8212; realize the importance of engaging young people toward more positive activities in their free time.<\/p>\n<p>\nAs you frame your programs and promotions, however, remember that parents don&#8217;t always know what they&#8217;re talking about. The study also found a few disconnects between what parents believed, and what children actually did:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><br \/>\n&#8230;.most parents say their own kids don&#8217;t do much hanging out at the mall; yet more than half of kids say they do. And while some parents count on cell phones to know where their kids are, uncomfortably high numbers of youngsters admit they&#8217;ve told their parents they were in one place when they were really in another and that they don&#8217;t always answer their cell when they know it&#8217;s their parents calling.<br \/>\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\nI&#8217;m shocked, I tell you. Shocked. Even though this was true long before the cell phone, and in fact I did it myself. Don&#8217;t tell mom.<\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study from Public Agenda, sponsored by the Wallace Foundation, explores the motivations and realities of after-school programming for kids (there&#8217;s a news article about it here, and the full report is available here). The study surveyed 609 middle and high-school students and 1,003 parents to discover what they were up to after school, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}