Leisure in early childhood and parental influence

A great variety of activities are done by early childhood during their leisure time. In this context, family's role is fundamental to offer different leisure proposals to their children. The aim of this research was to identify the characteristics (time, typology and purpose) of the leisure activities most frequently promoted by parents for children aged 3-6 years in a town in Cantabria. In addition, the aim is to recognise the influence of family income on the practices carried out by the youngest children, under the initial hypothesis that socio-economic level is a variable that has an impact on the recreational possibilities of children. According to this aim, a questionnaire has been used as a quantitative technique, collecting the information provided by 149 families with children from different schools in the locality. The main results show that, when offering proposals, the main intention considered by parents is enjoyment. However, there is no evidence that families' socioeconomic level gives rise to differences in the access to leisure time of children.