REACTION:PARENTS MUST take more responsibility for what their children do in their spare time, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn said yesterday in response to the Growing Up in Irelandfindings.
He said television had become “the all-present electronic baby-minder” yet children needed the active involvement of their parents.
“I think what we have to do is reinforce the role of the parent and older members of the family.
“I mean, literacy, for example, begins in the home, and parents and grandparents and uncles and aunts have a role to play.”
Mr Quinn said the classroom could not solve everything.
“And this study shows in fact that the home from which you come, and that’s across the social spectrum, can be a nurturing home or can be one that’s indifferent, and that empowers every parent making a contribution to the alertness of their children.”
The report carries messages for several Government departments, said Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald.
She said it highlighted the need for access to safe play areas within local neighbourhoods.
The study found that children who had a green area in which to play were also more likely to be involved in cultural activities and so were more likely to do better in literacy and maths tests.
“Play and recreation is not a soft area – it’s of real importance,” she said.
“What’s really important about this report is that it shows how reading, how mathematics, is affected by what children do outside the classroom, as well as in the classroom.”
Ms Fitzgerald said there was also a message for parents of “the hurried child”, the description of a child enrolled in numerous after-school activities.
Ms Fitzgerald also described as “disturbing” the lack of access to after-school activities for some children.
“Sometimes it’s about managing resources better. It’s about greater awareness, about using our parks and facilities more than perhaps some families do, so there’s a lot of food for thought in this report.”
Report authors Dr Selina McCoy, Amanda Quail and Dr Emer Smyth said the report clearly showed that what children did outside school mattered for how they did in school.
“There is a risk that children from more disadvantaged backgrounds may lose out academically if they do not have access to the same kinds of organised activities as their more middle-class peers.”
