What Are Kids Doing When Home Alone? - statistics - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Dec, 2000

About 3,500,000 American children between ages five and 12 spend some time home alone after school. However, the average amount of time isn't much--about an hour a day, according to a University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, study. Sandra L. Hofferth, a sociologist at the university's Institute for Social Research, and research associate Zita Jankuniene analyzed data from time diaries that detailed 1,500 youngsters' activities and then interviewed their parents to discover what the lives of U.S. children are like from the time they get out of school until the time they go to bed.

They found that 73% go straight home from school, while 11% go to child care, either in someone else's home or in a formal child care center. Another eight percent stay at school. That leaves about eight percent who go somewhere else, including the mall, indoor or outdoor recreation facilities, or their parents' workplaces.

The 19% who are supervised either in child care or at school is much lower than the two-thirds of schoolage kids in the study whose mothers are employed. Many parents have been able to arrange their schedules so that at least one is home at the end of the school day, either by working part time or by adjusting work hours, according to the researchers.

Still, a sizeable proportion of kids spend time alone. Overall, Hofferth and Jankuniene discovered that 26% spend some time after school completely alone, including time spent getting from one place to another on their own; 14% spend time alone at home; and 2.5% spend time alone elsewhere. The average amount of time spent at home unsupervised by adults is one hour, varying with age from 47 minutes for children five to seven to one hour and 15 minutes for those age 11 and 12.

What is the first thing kids do when they get home from school? Hofferth and Jankuniene found that 27% eat; 19% engage in personal care, including washing, bathing, dressing, and "none of your business"; 15% watch television; 13% study; and nine percent play.

How much time children devote to these activities yields a slightly different perspective on the after-school life of U.S. children. They devote the most time--100 minutes--to watching TV, compared with an average of 74 minutes playing, 60 minutes studying, 60 minutes in sports, 30 minutes doing household work, 30 minutes reading, and 20 minutes in conversation. Hofferth points out that "What children do depends largely upon where they go after school. If they stay at school, they're more likely to have adult supervision and participate in structured activities like sports and youth groups. They're much less likely to watch TV, study, or just read."

An earlier report based on the same time diaries showed that kids spend two more hours a day in school than they did in 1981. One of the consequences of spending less time at home is an increase in structured activities and a decline in free play. As the time they spend at home declines, reading for pleasure is also at great risk, she notes. "Children just don't read for pleasure anywhere but at home."

While unsupervised after-school time may create the potential for problems, Hofferth points out that it has possible benefits as well. "Spending a little time alone may not be bad, given the hectic, highly scheduled quality of contemporary family life. It gives children a chance to relax and do what they want, including just vegging out."