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3 The findings

The findings are presented under the different headings within our adapted use of Ben-Arieh's (2002) classification.

Sleep

We explored with children how much sleep they get, on average, each night. Overall, children slept well and for sustained periods. Three children said that they had less than eight hours sleep, eight said they had about eight hours sleep and 13 said they had more than eight hours sleep. This was confirmed by the diaries where the average time logged as 'spent sleeping' was nine and a half hours.

Twenty out of the 24 children said they slept well and 21 said they had enough sleep. Two boys, who slept more than eight hours, told us that they had too much sleep! Two children who did not sleep well, attributed this to not being able to get to sleep. One child described she could not get to sleep because she could not 'shut off her mind'. The other two described having broken sleep but found it difficult to explain why they woke up several times in the night.

Productive activities

Productive activities tend to be those which are structured within a framework set by adults. Ben-Arieh suggests that children's activities are productive 'when they have functional equivalence with adult activities that are generally understood as making a social or economical contribution' (Ben-Arieh 2002, p.156). For example, school and work provide looked after children with structure to parts of their day. This structure is generally determined by adults but what children make of their productive learning activities will influence various aspects of their development, including their confidence, self-esteem and self-efficacy. In the context of looked after children, writers, such as Gilligan, have suggested that the structure of school may be helpful. Routines and rituals may 'convey consoling security to a troubled child' (Gilligan 1998, p.16).

In the study, we classified productive activities as follows:

• school activity
• homework
• paid work activity
• doing jobs at home
• activity clubs after school
• educational clubs
• professional intervention

School activity

A child's experience of school is relevant to many aspects of their development. Positive school experience is also associated with the development of resilience and can be a protective factor against the experience of adversity (Daniel et al. 1999). As Howe et al. have suggested:

School life with its rich environment of new relationships and tasks presents children with new occasions to identify, develop and establish a fresh, more robust and socially valued aspects of the self (Howe et al. 1999, p.26).

The experience of school has many facets. It provides children with the possibility of achieving in the classroom. It also gives children the opportunity of being supported by a significant adult outside the child's immediate family who can offer encouragement and serve as a positive role model. Gilligan (1998) suggests that school may play many important roles in children's development, such as being an ally and capacity builder for children, thereby giving them opportunities to build self-esteem and confidence through learning and achievement. Ideally, school can provide a secure base for the troubled child.

Another important role for schools is to provide the context in which children can develop friendships with peers and develop relationships based on personal choice. Where children have left school, employment may be seen as an alternative structure and a place where young people can gain confidence and self-esteem.

Although school can be positive, the experience of school for looked after children has long been a cause for concern, particularly in relation to children's attainment at school (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education and Social Work Services Inspectorate 2001). Of care leavers in Scotland in 2002-03, six out of ten did not receive any qualifications, a similar proportion to the previous year ( NCH Scotland 2004).

In this section of the study, we will look at children's productive activities in terms of the time they spend in formal lessons. Later on, we will be looking at the time children spend with their peers and the part this plays within their social activities.

Of our 24 children, two had left school. This left 22 children who were still eligible to be in the education system full-time. Of these 22, 14 children were in mainstream school, and six were in special needs schools. Of the remaining two children, one child had been excluded from school and had been waiting for a new placement for six months and one young person was attending college part-time for two hours a week. All of the 20 children who were attending school full-time went to school every day.

We asked the children how many times they had been absent from school or work in the past month. Fifteen out of 20 children at school said they had not been absent from school. Of the five who had been absent, one had been absent once, three children had been absent two to three times and one child had been absent more than five times. This was due to 'skipping school'. Neither of the two who were working had been absent. The child who was excluded had skipped school 'sometimes'.

Of those who attended school everyday, seven admitted that they had arrived late on at least one occasion. Children gave a variety of reasons for skipping classes or arriving late. The most common reason was children sleeping in, although occasionally buses were missed or children got stuck in traffic jams. Two children had missed school because they had appointments with professionals. Two children commented that their behaviour had improved because they had come to realise there was no point in skipping class:

When you skip class the staff always find you.

Two mentioned that school was one aspect of the structure and routine in their lives they had experienced since coming to their placement:

It is better now that I have a regular routine.

Homework

Chart 3.1 Time spent doing homework each weekday

Of the 22 who were eligible for school or college, over half the children said they did not like doing homework. Consequently, it was not surprising that only four children spent more than an hour each day on homework, four spent up to half an hour, nine spent less than half an hour and the five remaining spent no time doing homework. Four children told us they never got homework. Encouraged by her carer, one child was in the process of asking to be given homework so that she could improve her grades. Only seven children reported 'doing homework' in their diaries and it was an activity often done in the context of 'multi-tasking', being undertaken while watching the television or listening to music.

Of those who got homework, 11 said they had to be reminded to do it. Those who did not mind doing homework were generally helped by a parent or a carer. The most popular subject was maths:

I like maths as it is about solving things.
I like sums.

Paid work activity

Two young people were over the age of 16 and were working. One worked full-time, seven hours a day, the other part-time, around four hours a day. Both thought working was acceptable but were not very enthusiastic about it.

We also looked at work patterns among the 22 children who were still at school. Hobbs and McKechnie (1997) suggest that many young people have had experience of work before reaching school leaving age. The experience of work can be both positive and negative. The negative effects are that children can be working long hours for low pay which can affect their health and abilities at school. On the positive side, it is argued that the advantages of work while at school are that children gain increased financial independence from their families. Work can foster self-esteem and social development and enhance self-efficacy. It can prevent children from getting bored and can be a good preparation for the responsibilities for work in later life (Hobbs and McKechnie 1997). In our sample, only two children had some part-time work outside of school hours. One child had two jobs, working as a waitress and as a cleaner for a total of nine hours each weekend, and the other child was a waitress.

Doing jobs at home

In common with many children, doing jobs at home was an activity that children endured rather than enjoyed, although 15 said they 'did not mind' doing these chores. Twenty-three children had to be 'reminded' about undertaking these activities although one or two were motivated by the promise of pocket money. It was, therefore, not surprising that half the children spent less than half an hour on a weekday doing jobs at home. Eight children spent half an hour to one hour and only three children spent more than one hour doing jobs at home. The activity was often undertaken with music in the background.

According to children, jobs included washing up, tidying their bedrooms, hoovering, laundry, taking the rubbish out, gardening and walking the dog. These jobs were usually done in the company of adults, apart from the tidying of bedrooms:

I am told to wash and clean the dishes all the time.
I do it because it is pocket money day.
I do not like doing it but it has to be done.

Activity clubs after school

Jack and Gill (2003) suggest that activities, groups and services within their communities can help children develop a positive identity. At the end of the school day, 15 of the 22 children in the study still at school participated in activity clubs, some of which took place in school. These clubs were not for the purpose of child care but were extra curricular interest groups. All 15 children said that participation in these clubs was their choice. The clubs tended to take place weekly with children spending between half an hour and two hours there, according to the activity. Clubs included drama, poetry, dance, football, karate, science experiments and also trampoline. One child described how much he enjoyed reciting the poems of Robert Burns at the poetry club.

Community based clubs for children

Structured clubs in the community have a part to play in promoting children's confidence. Gilligan (1998) suggests that the youth service, along with school and community work, can be of special help to children who are experiencing disruption and disadvantage in their lives. Only four children went to these clubs which comprised guides, air cadets, boys' brigade and cubs.

Professional intervention

Twenty-two out of the 24 children said they had social workers, whom they saw at least once a month or more frequently. When children saw their social workers, there was considerable variation in the amount of time spent with them. In general, at least half the children spent an hour or more with their social worker while they were with them. At least five children said they spent over two hours with them.

Social workers spent time talking with children about how they were getting on in their placement and school and getting an update on their progress. It was difficult to tell whether the children led the discussion or the other way round. An important issue on the agenda was to discuss children's families. Social workers also had a role in helping children deal with their emotions. In one case, the social worker was helping a child make a transition into college. There was one example where a child had moved placement and the social worker was held responsible for not continuing to promote her much loved leisure activity of going to the gym. The young person was frustrated that her social worker had promised to arrange the membership of a gym but she was still waiting for this to happen several months later. In another case, a young person described how therapeutic it was to be able to vent her anger about her situation through sharing a game of pool with her social worker. There were similar examples of the usefulness of shared activities in Aldgate and McIntosh's (2006) kinship care study.

Many looked after children carry the legacies of their past and need specialist help in order to come to terms with these. Aldgate and McIntosh's (2006) kinship care study provided examples of groups run by voluntary agencies, which offered groupwork for children who had experienced loss and change. In this study, three of the children attended specialist groups or individual counselling sessions. One child met with counsellors for stress management and massage therapy once every three weeks; another met with a clinical psychologist once a week and the third child met with a bereavement counsellor every fortnight.

Contributing to the community

Ben-Arieh (2002) believes that children may benefit from being involved in making a contribution to the community in which they live. In the study, only one child contributed to the community by assisting disabled children with riding lessons which she did for two hours every weekend.

We felt that children's contribution to their community could be interpreted in another way. Responsibility within the school setting is a way children can learn about looking after others. Unfortunately, we did not explore this with every child as an aspect of daily activities. Because we relied on self-reporting, this section may well be an underestimation of children's contributions to their communities. One child spent time drawing a cartoon for the school newspaper. A second child commented on his contribution to the school community as a school monitor.

Monitoring means you go down to their wee playground right and you look after them [younger children]. I stop dogs and cats coming into school or people that aren't welcome to the school. I protect all the wee yins.

Spiritual activities

Eighteen children said they did not participate in any religious activity. Six children attended places of faith and particularly enjoyed this because of the friendships they had at church. This occurred at the weekend for an hour to two hours. It was evident that consistently spending time at places of faith was important for a minority of children. In all these cases, the place of faith was a church. One child went to church at the weekends and also attended a puppet club there during the week. Eight other children told us they studied religious education at school as part of the curriculum. Five of these children also told us that they did not believe in God, did not enjoy religious education and did not participate in this part of the curriculum by choice.

Travel time

There was considerable variation in the time children estimated they spent each day on travel. Children spent between half an hour and two hours on travel. During the week this was to and from school. At the weekends, travel was mainly for the purpose of shopping, meeting friends and other leisure activities. There was little difference between the three care settings or between urban and rural areas. Much depended on individual children's circumstances. Travelling was sometimes combined with other activities, such as meeting friends on the school bus.

Personal care

We explored two main areas of personal care. These were:

• eating
• getting ready (self-presentation)

Eating

Healthy eating is fundamental to children's well-being but it is more than a nutritional activity. The context in which food is eaten has social implications for both children and adults. Whereas sharing a meal together round the family table has historically tended to be seen as an important source of family activity across social classes, changes over time in employment patterns of parents and the arrival of the microwave, instant food and television means some families tend to eat individually in between work and activities. The consumption of food in the home has tended to become more functional with each individual eating different things at different times of the day. As a consequence of the dinner table not being a focus of family activity, Ben-Arieh (2002) argues that children spend less time eating with their parents or carers.

In this study, we explored with children how eating as an activity took place. We asked them about the frequency of meals and we also explored whether they ate alone or with others. We also asked them where the consumption of their main meal took place, for example at the dinner table or in front of the television and whether this was alone or with others. We found that the children in the study tended to eat with their carers at least once a day.

• Breakfast Just over half the children (13) said they had breakfast every day. Three children said they only had breakfast on weekdays, two said they ate it four times a week, four only had breakfast at the weekends and two never ate breakfast. According to the diaries, out of all those who ate breakfast, only two children ate breakfast alone and the rest ate with other members of the household.
• Lunch In contrast, 21 children said they always had lunch. Two said they did not have lunch at the weekends and one said he only had lunch four times a week. One child told us that he previously missed lunch but, after being told about the importance of lunch by his foster carer, now ate lunch regularly. All children who had lunch in the 48 hour period of their diaries had lunch with others, either with their peers or family.
• Main meal Twenty-two children had a main meal after school every day. One child only had tea three times a week and another said she never had tea. All children who had tea in the 48 hour period of their diaries had tea with somebody. This was usually with family.
• Bedtime snacks Thirteen children said they had a bedtime snack every night. The others had a snack if they were hungry. Children usually ate supper on their own in their rooms.
• Eating dinner at the table or in front of the television Twenty children said that they ate their main meal at a table 'most days'. Three ate their meal at a table but were simultaneously watching television and a further five said they occasionally ate watching the television but this was on special occasions. Two children said they ate dinner in their rooms watching the television. The remaining two children told us they did not have a table to eat at and so they ate on their laps in front of the television.

We can conclude from this that the majority of children ate three times a day. Four out of five ate their main meal at a table with others. All of those in residential care ate at a table and children who were living at home and in foster care varied in their patterns of eating.

Getting ready (self-presentation)

Appearance is considered to be an important indicator of self-esteem. The Looking After Children ( LAC) system (Ward 1995) includes dimensions on self-presentation skills and self care skills in the assessment and action records. Gill (2001) and Jack and Gill (2003) suggest that adolescents place great importance upon their clothes and appearance. Where young people neglect their self care, this is seen as a sign of low self-esteem (Parker et al. 1991).

Given the emphasis on self care and presentation, both in the literature and in the looking after children assessment and action records (Ward 1995), we asked children how long they took to get ready to go out. Most of the older children spent time on their own getting ready but, according to the diaries, even the younger children undertook the 'getting ready' activities on their own.

There were examples of some children who had developed a very distinctive presentation of themselves. For example, there was one young person who spent a lot of time in the skate park and specially dressed in the appropriate fashionable attire of baggy trousers and trendy t-shirts. Another young person, who was fond of rap and heavy metal music, presented herself as a 'Goth', where clothes, hair and make-up were meticulously put together in order to present a very definite self-image. As in the kinship care study (Aldgate and McIntosh 2006), children drew attention to the importance of trainers as part of their self-image. Hairstyles were also significant. There were some spectacular examples of spiky hairstyles in the boys, which were held together with copious amounts of hair gel and one child was eager to end the interview so that he could go off to the hairdressers. For these young people, the change to adolescence bought with it the patterns of self-presentation that would be typical of many of their peers within the community. There was little indication, either from the schedules or the diaries, that children were not paying attention to their self-presentation.

• Getting ready for school

Chart 3.2 Amount of time spent getting ready for school

When we asked children to tell us how much time they took to get ready for school, 11 children told us they took less than half an hour. The quickest (five minutes), who also had the longest journey to school, told us:

I get up quick, out the door and into the taxi!

Nine said they took between half an hour to one hour. The four remaining, all girls, said they took longer than an hour, while one girl took an hour and a half to style her hair. This was also reflected in her diary (see Case Study 1).

• Getting ready to go out

Chart 3.3 Amount of time spent getting ready to go out

We also asked all children, in the schedule, how long it took them to get ready when going out. As can be seen from comparing charts 3.2 and 3.3, children spent longer getting ready to go out in contrast to getting ready for school. Children told us they spent more time getting ready at the weekend because they had more time and also more choice over what to wear. There was little difference between boys and girls, however. For example, three girls mentioned that they spent time trying on different outfits before deciding what to wear, while one boy took great pride in spending a long time styling his hair for 'the girls'.

Social interaction

We looked at social interaction under the following headings:

• friends
• breaktimes
• lunchtimes
• talking to friends after school
• time spent with significant members of the household or unit
• time spent with birth family

Friends

It is recognised that the peer group, with its constantly shifting membership, and its undefined roles, is an important vehicle for social growth and change (Aldgate et al. 2006). Apart from supporting children's development, friendships are one of the areas in which children can have control over their lives. Children can choose who their friends are. Through friendships, children also choose the spaces and places they meet in neighbourhood environments such as the street and shopping areas. It is suggested that there are connections between children's use of these places and their well-being, although the direction of influence may be connected to local factors. One recent study of youngsters' use of public space in an area of urban regeneration in Edinburgh, found that young people valued informal, wild areas near their homes but were also afraid of places they considered unsafe (Elsley 2004).

Writers on child development stress that middle childhood and adolescent friendships are important. Dowling et al. (2006) suggest that friendships with each other can provide:

• opportunity to learn social skills of interacting with peers, e.g. competition and co-operation
• fun and companionship
• self-knowledge and knowledge about others
• emotional support in times of stress

Where children do not have friends, this can inhibit their development in a variety of ways, including poor behaviour and attainment at school, and other emotional problems (Schaffer 1996). It has been suggested that children who have experienced secure relationships are more likely to have a positive relationship with peers (Aldgate and Jones 2006), while children who lack confidence and have a negative self-image may find it more difficult to make and sustain relationships. It has also been suggested that rejection by their friends may be one of the factors that influences young people's antisocial behaviour (Daniel and Wassell 2002; Rutter et al. 1998).

In the study, we found that, on most days, every child spent some time with at least one friend. It was clear from the diaries and schedules that children valued time spent with friends, both during and after school and at the weekends.

Breaktimes

Children told us that their primary activity at breaktime was to meet with friends. Sometimes this was combined with other activities such as having a snack or playing football. Three young people admitted that they 'had a fag together behind the bike shed'. As we shall see later, smoking was seen as a social activity amongst peers.

Lunchtimes

Children all valued their lunch break as it was a chance to meet up with friends again and they spent their lunchtimes in a variety of ways. The older children tended to 'sit in a café and talk with friends' or 'grab a bite to eat at the chippie'. Activities such as football, basketball and hockey were equally popular. One child reported that she had only one free lunchtime because she was heavily engaged in musical activities such as brass band, choir and orchestra.

Talking to friends outside of school

Half the children (12) spent two or more hours on a weekday talking to their friends, beyond time spent together within school. Three children spent one to two hours with friends everyday, while eight spent less than an hour and one child never spent time with his friends after school.

Children in residential units tended to confine their friends to other children in the unit. This had an effect on the data in relation to how often they saw their friends out of school and what kind of activities they did with their peers. For example, 14 children told us that they sometimes had dinner at friends' houses, particularly at the weekend. However, for those in residential units, dinner took place with friends every day. Twenty-one told us that they occasionally went out to eat with friends at fast food restaurants such as Pizza Hut, McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Most children did not mention any restrictions on where they met friends and only one child indicated that there were restrictions on where he could play with his friends:

My mum reminds me not to go too far from the house and not to go to the park.

We then went on to ask what activities they engaged in with their friends. All the children engaged in social interaction with friends. Sometimes this was combined with a leisure activity.

Table 1 Children's activities with peers

The most popular activity undertaken with friends, cited by 11 children, was to play computer games. Nine children played sports with their peers which included ice skating, swimming, football, rugby, skateboarding, bowling and hill walking. Less active 'hanging out' was also popular with nine children. Watching the television or videos at each other's homes was cited by six children. The remaining activities included window shopping, clubbing, talking on the phone, eating out and going to activity clubs. Three young people told us they 'went to the pub'.

We also asked the children if they wanted to see more of their friends. Slightly more than half the children (13) said they saw enough of their friends, while one said he would rather go hill walking with his carers. Eleven said they would like to see friends more. Those who lived in rural areas found it especially difficult to see their friends as much as they would like. Another issue for some was that their school was quite far from home, which made meeting up with school friends difficult:

They're too far away.

A further issue was that children had lost touch with their friends when they moved to their new placement:

I would like to see more of the friends that I had before I moved to this unit.
I do miss my old friends but I do feel that I get enough time with the other young people in the unit.

Overall, the children in this study confirmed the consensus in the literature that spending time with friends is a very important daily activity.

Time spent with significant adults in households or units

We thought it important to explore the time children spent with carers or parents, in the light of the research findings that suggest that adults may have a key role to play in relation to the well-being of children (Ben-Arieh 2002). Where children have experienced separation, loss and rejection it is argued that it is even more important to have one-to-one relationships with adults who can help them come to terms with their situations (Daniel et al.1999).

We wanted to explore how much time the children spend with the most significant adults who looked after them in their household or unit. This question was asked to all children. What we found was that children were spending more quality time with adults than might have been expected, and there was very little variation in the time spent with adults between the three care settings. Most children spent between three to five hours of their time with their carers, the exception being two children who spent one to two hours and one child who was with key workers 24 hours a day. The time spent with adults reflects the findings about children in the general population in Egerton and Gershuny's (2004) study on time diaries. They found older children spent on average three hours a day with parents on weekdays and five hours at the weekends. All of the children in this study were happy with these arrangements, although two children in residential care did indicate that they would like to have more one-to-one quality time with their key workers:

I can say anything I want. Staff are a good support.
I'd like more one-on-one.

There are several ways in which children spent quality time with the adults who looked after them. Of the benefits from these relationships, feeling they were being cared for ranked first. This also included being able to give affection to their carers:

I like it because I know I am cared for because they are like my grandparents.
I like giving them a great big hug.

Giving affection was also connected to a feeling of being able to communicate with and trust carers. Talking things over with carers was an important activity in its own right but was one which sometimes occurred in the context of a physical activity such as gardening, or going for walks or baking:

I like education and when staff explain things to me.

Some children drew attention to the value of living in a group where there were adults and children. This was not confined to residential care but applied to those at home or in foster care:

I like being with her and talking to her and being with other kids.
I enjoy talking. I prefer it when there are more people in the unit.
Just having a chat with mum.

By contrast, a minority of children in residential care found it difficult to be in an environment where other people were always around. These children preferred to escape to engage in outdoor activities such as walking, gardening, fishing, going for a drive and going to different places:

I like just going out somewhere and talking.
I like going for a drive away from the unit.
I prefer being outside.

Children also found it difficult to be challenged by carers, for example, when they had behaved badly:

I don't like it when I have to go to the quiet room and discuss my behaviour.
I would like less lecturing time.

Nevertheless, the majority of children were happy with the time spent and amount of activities they were doing with their carers. Being exposed to new activities was generally well received. One very active child had been given the experience of mountain climbing and fishing and was eager to spend even more time with staff doing these activities. Another had been taken to the pantomime for the first time in his life and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Time spent with birth family

Contact with birth family is a major factor in the lives of looked after children. While there are no unequivocal findings on the merits of contact for all looked after children in every circumstance (Cleaver 2000), contact remains an issue which is significant for looked after children themselves, including those who are looked after by extended family (Aldgate and McIntosh 2006).

We explored with children their contact with birth families. There were 19 children who were looked after away from home. Of these, 11 told us they had contact with birth parents. Two saw at least one birth parent two to three times a week; four saw at least one parent once a week; four saw at least one parent once a month and one saw a parent a few times a year. When contact took place it was for three to five hours, on average. Ten of the 19 children were happy with the level of contact and, out of the remaining nine, seven wanted to see more of their birth parents and two wanted to spend less time with their parents but more time with their siblings, a finding similar to that in Aldgate and McIntosh's (2006) study on kinship care.

Children valued the time because it helped them accept their situation:

It doesn't make you upset when you see them because you miss them.

They also valued doing ordinary family things:

I like cooking dinner with mum and talking to my little brother.

We asked the children if they were happy with the amount of activities that they did with their birth families. Eight told us they were happy and, of the three who were not, two wanted to go out, for example, to the cinema or engage in more structured activities such as sports. There were indications that these children felt bored by just sitting around watching the television. However, these were a minority. As Aldgate and McIntosh (2006) found in their kinship care study, just being with parents was seen as an activity in its own right for most children.

Time spent with siblings was seen as equally important, if not more so, than time spent with parents, another finding that was similar to that in Aldgate and McIntosh's (2006) kinship care study. Children described participating in active pastimes, such as bowling, go-karting, and playing football. They also liked chatting and watching television with siblings or just being with siblings and doing practical things for them. One child said:

I love being with my wee brother and sister and playing with them and doing my sister's hair.

Leisure activities

How children spend their leisure time is an issue which has come to the fore in relation to children's healthy development. Concerns have been expressed by policy makers about the impact on children's health of a lack of physical activity (Scottish Executive 2003). There have been special concerns about the health of looked after children (Scott and Hill 2006). Sedentary pursuits, such as watching television and playing computer games are areas of contention. While it is argued that playing computer games helps with aspects of cognitive agility, this is counterbalanced by the impact on children's general well-being by the absence of regular physical activity.

The influence of television on children is a very contentious area. Mussen et al. (1990), for example, argue that watching television may influence children in three main ways: by teaching intellectual skills and information, providing social learning and selling products. Children gain some of their knowledge about social relationships by watching television, which may be positive or negative. Children may learn about situations beyond their normal everyday lives, such as understanding about environmental issues or being able to observe wildlife. On the other hand, there has been much research looking at the impact of television violence on children and, it would be fair to say, that the jury is still out on this issue. Concerns about children's obesity have recently led policy makers to consider the banning of the adverts of 'junk food,' especially at times when children might be watching.

Those writing about child development have consistently drawn attention to the benefits of creative activity such as playing music and engaging in arts and crafts. Such activities not only help aspects of children's cognitive development but are also seen as being helpful in promoting children's self-esteem and self-efficacy (Mussen et al. 1990).

To give us a good idea of how children spent their leisure time, we constructed a list of activities to which children could add their own. We asked the children what activities they participated in, whether they liked them, the amount of control they had over doing the activity and how much time they spent on them on a normal school day. The activities were:

• listening to music
• playing on the computer
• watching television
• doing sport
• playing games
• playing a musical instrument
• arts and crafts
• reading
• chilling out
• going out places

Listening to music

All 24 children spent some time listening to music every day. Thirteen children told us that they spent two hours or more listening to music, two spent one to two hours, four spent half an hour to one hour, and five spent less than half an hour listening to music, all five of whom were younger children. Twenty-two said they really enjoyed listening to music:

This is my favourite thing.
I love hip hop, rap and heavy metal.

Two children were 'not bothered' about music. Listening to music created tensions for four of the children, who were told to 'turn it down' by the adults in the household and it was often done in conjunction with other activities, such as chatting with friends, eating or doing homework.

Playing on the computer

Twenty children said they liked to use the computer. However, when asked how much time they spent at home in a day using the computer there was some variation. Seven children never used a computer at home, either because they did not have a computer or it was broken. Four children told us that they used the computer for less than half an hour. In two cases, children were restricted by having to share the computer with other children in the household. Seven children said they used the computer for one to two hours and six said they used it for two hours or more. Those who used a computer at home used it for 'surfing' the internet and email, homework and to download music.

Watching television

Chart 3.4 Time spent watching television

All the children liked watching television. All watched the television on a normal school day and 15 children told us that on a normal weekday they watched two hours or more. Six children watched between one to two hours and three children spent half an hour to one hour watching television. Eleven children said that their viewing was restricted, either in the amount or content:

She [carer] moans at me for not doing more exercise.
I'm not allowed to watch violent programmes.
When I am bad I am not allowed to watch television.

The children's diaries showed that the majority of children watched the television with another person. In a small number of cases, where children watched the television alone, they did so because they had a television in their bedroom.

In one instance, the television was used as a device to help a hyperactive child to calm down:

I watch TV when I'm angry.

Doing sport

Chart 3.5 Time spent doing sport

Twenty-three children said they played some active sport and all said they liked it, although three children added they had to be encouraged to do it. Four children spent two hours or more a day playing sport, five children spent one to two hours and the rest spent less than an hour playing sport. The most popular sport was football.

The number of sporting activities varied too. About one quarter of the children (6) actively engaged in more than one sport, with one undertaking five sports (running every day, weights, hill walking, snowboarding and cycling).

It is of interest to contrast the amount of time spent playing sport with that spent watching television. Fifteen children spent two or more hours a day watching television compared with five who engaged in sport for this time. Fifteen children spent less than half an hour doing sport, including one who did none, whereas only three children spent less than half an hour watching television.

Playing games

Four children spent two hours or more playing games, six children spent one to two hours, ten children spent less than one hour playing games and four children never played games.

Playing a musical instrument

Ten children played a musical instrument by choice with the most common practice time being less than half an hour a day. Instruments included woodwind and brass instruments, recorders, piano, drums, keyboard and guitars. Four children played more than one instrument. The positive achievement of playing music was exemplified by one child, who played the trumpet in a brass band:

It is very demanding but it is really good afterwards when you hear everybody clapping.

Arts and crafts

Seventeen children chose to spend some time doing arts and crafts. Thirteen spent under an hour on this activity. One child very proudly told us that he drew comic strips for the school newspaper and another told us he liked doing 'graffiti'. In contrast to the others, for whom arts and crafts were pleasurable activities, one child told us that he was instructed by his carers to draw as a punishment for bad behaviour.

Reading

Chart 3.6 Time spent reading each day

Nineteen children spent some time reading on a weekday. Of these, ten spent less than half an hour a day reading, four spent between half an hour and one hour and five children spent more than an hour a day reading. Once again, the contrast between activities such as listening to music and watching television and reading are quite noticeable. Sixteen children said they liked reading but eight had to be encouraged to read:

Staff and my care worker encourage me to read.
My English teacher always nags on at me.
I am encouraged to read more suitable things.

The range of literature was eclectic with favourites being the Harry Potter books, horror stories and detective stories. According to the diaries, reading usually took place before bedtime as a means of getting to sleep. Given the messages on the low educational attainment of looked after children (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education and Social Work Services Inspectorate 2001), it seemed that little time was spent by adults and children reading together. Three children told us that their carers often put on story tapes for them at bedtime.

Chilling out

In the increasingly structured world children inhabit, the ability to be able to spend time alone and 'chill out' is seen to be an important resource for children's emotional health (Scott and Hill 2006). In the study, we explored with children how much time they spent relaxing on their own.

Chart 3.7 Time spent alone chilling out each day

Twenty-two children liked 'chilling out'. Ten children spent more than two hours on this activity, four children spent one to two hours and eight spent half an hour or less:

It helps you if you are down, if you are all uptight.

One younger child said they never spent time chilling out:

I like being active. I'm not really the chilling type.

Another child said she found it difficult to chill out as:

I never get a moment's peace in the unit.

One child was told to 'chill out' when he was stressed and another was told to do more with her free time.

Going out (discos, concerts)

We asked the children whether they spent any time going to discos or concerts. Four went clubbing, usually on a Friday or Saturday night and told us that dancing gave them a real sense of exhilaration. Two children also told us of the pleasure they got from going to the pantomime.

Consumption

Consumption was broken down into the following areas:

• shopping
• cinema
• smoking
• drinking

Shopping

Six children never went shopping. Eighteen children went shopping on a weekly basis. Six of these went shopping twice a week or more. Of those who went shopping, 17 enjoyed it. For some this was not necessarily buying goods as young people used this activity to meet their friends, have fun and to check out the latest fashions:

We like to try on clothes that we would not usually wear.
We get all the make-up and try it on.

For others, part of the attraction was being able to have control over choosing where to shop and what to buy:

I like it but I take a long time to choose stuff. Once it took me half an hour to choose hair gel.

Some children did not have the confidence of making choices themselves but valued the help of their carers:

I like it when staff point out clothes for me and help me.

Others found the activity overwhelming or not enjoyable:

I can't handle it.

I don't like going for the sake of it. I do not have the patience.

I know what I want and I get out as fast as I can.

Cinema

Cinema was a popular activity with eight children in the study and five children recorded going to the cinema in their diaries. All children were accompanied by their peers or adults. Children looked after at home tended to go less frequently to the cinema. This may have been because of the fact the cinema was seen as too expensive (see also Aldgate and McIntosh 2006).

Smoking

Concerns about young smokers are very much part of the current health agenda. Four children owned up to smoking and described smoking as an activity in its own right. Smoking was seen as a social activity undertaken with peers although children also smoked on their own. Two children (aged 13 and 15) incorporated 'fag breaks' in their diaries. Smoking was the first activity in their day and the last activity before bed. The 13 year old summed it up:

I can't get through the day without a fag.

Drinking

Drinking was also seen as a social activity, albeit by a minority. Two of the older young people (aged 17 and 18) told us they socialised in the pub. One 13 year old told us that Friday night consisted of drinking on the street with peers because 'there was nothing else to do'. Indeed, this was verified by his diary.

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