Sport and performing top career wishlists for nine-year-olds
A new study has found that children’s main ambitions are to be healthy, to get a good job and to stay close to friends and family.
A majority of boys surveyed in the Growing Up In Ireland (GUI) study wanted to be professional sports players (soccer, rugby or tennis), while most girls wanted to be professional performers, typically singers, dancers or actresses.
The study, launched this morning by Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald also found that children felt less close to parents who worked long hours.
Relationships between children and their parents are broadly positive, but can be negatively affected if parents are less available, respondents said.
Children spend more time with their mothers and time spent with their dads is often activity-based.
In general the nine-year old children talked happily in the qualitative interviews about their daily lives and their plans for the future. However, some had what the study describes as "troubled attitudes to food and to their own weight".
In addition, some were worried about going to secondary school, anticipating bullying and problems with maintaining friendships in the new school. Others felt worried about other aspects of the future, such as the death or illness of loved ones and global issues like climate change and war.
Children in all areas frequently pointed to the lack of places to play.
The families who took part in the study were selected from the larger GUI quantitative study which is tracking the lives of 8,500 nine-year-old children. These children and their families are taking part in a follow-up interview now that the children have turned 13.
