"Where Do Children Go?": Exploring Children's Daily Destinations With Children, Parents, and Experts

Abstract

Research on children's destinations has primarily focused on school trips, yet their lives are more than that. Different destinations contribute to children's quality of life in different ways, but this is rarely examined. For our research, focus groups were conducted with different stakeholders to better understand non-school destinations, namely by identifying common, daily, and informal destinations and perceptions of how they relate to children’s well-being. Online focus group discussions were conducted with children (aged 8-12), parents (with children aged 7-13), and experts from different cities across Canada in May and June 2023, to obtain diverse opinions about children’s destinations. The analysis was conducted based on a prior review to categorize children’s destinations, identify informal destinations, green and grey places, and the relation between those destinations to children's well-being. Discussions with parents, children, and experts highlighted the diversity of destinations relevant to children. Leisure destinations were one of the most mentioned in the discussions. Spaces without specific rules or structures were identified by experts as beneficial for children’s cognitive, social, physical, and psychological health. Parents mentioned primarily formal places, whereas children and experts mentioned primarily informal ones. Green destinations were more associated with physical well-being, though children dominantly associated green destinations with psychological well-being as well. All groups dominantly associated grey-type destinations with social and cognitive well-being. Using these results, urban planners can develop strategies to improve children’s access to their daily destinations that support their well-being.