The Home They Live In: Inner City Children's Views on the Influence of Parenting Strategies on Their Leisure Behavior

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how parenting strategies affect African-American children's leisure experiences in socially isolated urban neighborhoods. From the perspective of children, we describe strategies used by their parents and families to combat constraints imposed by poverty and the physical risks in their neighborhood. Over a two-year period, 43 children were interviewed about their leisure experiences within the context of their family and neighborhood. Four themes regarding parenting strategies emerged from a qualitative analysis of the data: utilization of kinship networks, serving as arrangers of leisure activities, isolation and confinement, and chaperonage. These parenting strategies allowed some children to participate in mainstream leisure activities, despite risks present in their neighborhood. On the other hand, parental restrictions on children's social interactions with peers and others perceived to be undesirable curtailed the range of leisure for some children. These findings are discussed in terms of (a) constraints to children's leisure and, (b) the programmatic implications for the planning of children's leisure in inner city neighborhoods.