Play, Physical Activity and Public Health

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About this product

Are children playing less than they used to? Are rising obesity rates linked to a decline in children’s time to play freely? These and other related questions have filled the pages of newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals for the past decade. Researchers and journalists have attributed these issues to societal changes around children’s lives and leisure, the growth of structured and organised activities and increasing perceptions of risk in children’s play. Play, Physical Activity and Public Health presents a discussion of the way modern notions of play are rendering children’s leisure activities less free and less engaged in simply for fun. Based on original qualitative research, and analysis of contemporary media from Canada and elsewhere, this book argues that the growing health concerns around childhood play entail a paradox: by advocating, promoting, discussing, and re-directing children’s play, a new form of children’s leisure is emerging - one that is purpose-driven, instrumentalised for health, and ultimately, less free. We explore how play has become goal-oriented, a means to health ends, and how the management of pleasure in play as well as diverse risk discourses

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