Material deprivation harms children's wellbeing
Janaki Mahadevan
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Family holidays, pocket money and access to outdoor space are among the things that impact most upon children's wellbeing, The Children's Society has found.
Research by The Children’s Society and the University of York identified 10 items that children feel they need to experience a normal life. The report also concluded that children lacking five or more of these items were five times more likely to be unhappy than their peers.
The report Missing Out sought to build a greater understanding of what it means to be deprived from a child’s perspective. The list of 10 items was decided upon with focus groups of children, then a poll of 5,500 eight- to 15-year-olds then asked whether a lack of any of the items affected children’s wellbeing.
The 10 items are some money to save each month; a garden or some outdoor space nearby; weekly pocket money; at least one family holiday each year; a personal music player; monthly family days out; a pair of brand name trainers; the right kind of clothes to fit in; a family car; and cable or satellite TV.
Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said: "Too often we try to understand what it means to be poor from the perspective of parents and ignore the children. For the first time, this research asks children themselves what they need to live a normal kind of life.
"It shows that many children are missing out on normal, everyday things, like pocket money, or trips out with their family. Children have shown us they have a clear idea of what makes them happy, and those missing out on these items are much unhappier than their peers."
The research showed that children most commonly lacked pocket money, with more than a third not receiving it each week and 22 per cent of children wanting pocket money but not receiving it.
Monthly trips or days out with family and annual family holidays were also among the things most missed by children.
Thirty four per cent of children who did not have the right clothes to fit in with their peers were unhappy, followed by 28 per cent of children without cable or satellite TV. Twenty six per cent said not having access to a garden or outdoor space affected them as did a quarter of those without a family.
