Children’s sports commits Australian parents to more than billion hours per year
THOUSANDS of dollars, hundreds of hours and dozens of kilometres inching through heavy traffic — just getting their children to sport is putting Sydneysider parents through quite a workout.
NSW
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THOUSANDS of dollars, hundreds of hours and dozens of kilometres inching through heavy city traffic — just getting their children to sport is putting Sydneysider parents through quite a workout.
A new Australian Active Kids report has found Australian parents spend 848 hours every year driving, watching and getting involved in their offspring’s sporting activities.
Researchers found this comes to 1.08 billion hours collectively across the nation. Commissioned by Real Insurance, the survey discovered parents pay an average of $2180 for their child’s sporting endeavours, with swimming cited as the most popular, then soccer.
In a typical week, families spent an average of three hours during weekdays and 2.6 hours on the weekends transporting kids to sports games and training — an average of 39km a week. Report authors estimate that translates to about 3.4 billion kilometres covered annually.
Another three hours are spent on weekdays and 2.6 hours on weekends. That’s a staggering 418 million hours each year waiting on the sidelines of sporting matches and training, an average of 295 hours per year, per family.
“Beyond the financial commitments, parents spend a considerable amount of time on their children’s sporting activities in a typical week, including transporting them, waiting for them and actually being involved and helping around,” report authors said.
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“Some parents are also expected to chip in by doing additional loads of laundry and purchasing oranges.”
Just over 45 per cent of families did one sport, with 39 per cent saying they juggled two while 58 per cent of parents had more than one child with sport commitments on the same day.
Swimming was the most popular activity, cited by 12.5 per cent of parents, followed by soccer (11.7 per cent).
Dr Lisa Barnett from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition said parents spent a “lot of time and effort” taking children to sport, but still the kids did not meet guidelines.
“They need at least an hour a day of physical activity,” she said.
“Organised sport is just one piece of the puzzle.”
“We really need to be developing opportunities for unstructured play.”
Melbourne dad Peter Stamatopolous estimated his elite soccer star daughter Nia, 14, spent 12-13 hours a week at soccer training or games and the family would spend “countless more” hours driving there.
“My life revolves around her sporting life,” he said. “But she has a dream and if I can help I will.”
From next year the NSW government will provide a $100 rebate per child to help cover sporting costs.