AKTIVNOSTI RODITELJA I DECE MLAĐEG ŠKOLSKOG UZRASTA: KA USPEŠNOM RODITELJSTVU I ODRASTANJU DECE KROZ SADRŽAJNO SLOBODNO VREME U PORODICI

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine joint activities of parents and their younger school-age children, with the intention of highlighting the relevance of successful parenting and healthy child development, focusing on the importance of meaningful leisure time within the family. The research employed a descriptive method and a survey technique. A total of 337 parents of younger school-age children from the territory of the Republic of Serbia participated in the study. The findings indicate that parents prefer most of the activities they carry out together with their children, with joint activities in familiar environments being predominant. Parents report various activities they would like to engage in more frequently with their children in new environments and explain that they need support in overcoming stress, greater financial resources, solutions to challenges related to mismatched work schedules of parents and school schedules of children, as well as assistance from other family members and/or relevant services in situations involving illness of a family member, in order to more frequently engage in activities they desire and prefer with their children. The findings lead to the conclusion that parents generally recommend those activities that they themselves prefer and practice together with their children, which they find interesting and meaningful; however, a weak but positive correlation may indicate that parents can also recommend activities they have not personally tried, implemented, and/or experienced with their children. This opens up various questions that may serve as ideas for further research.