chapter
12
Leisure
and Recreation
Across the Life Span
Three Major Categories
of Development
1. Physical
2. Cognitive
3. Socioemotional
Seven Life Stages
•
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•
•
•
•
Infancy (birth to 2 years)
Early childhood (3 to 6 years)
Middle and late childhood (7 to 12 years)
Adolescence (13 to 19 years)
Early adulthood (20 to 39 years)
Middle adulthood (40 to 59 years)
Late adulthood (60 years and older)
Infancy: From Baby to Toddler
• Physical
– Gross motor skills: sitting, rolling, and crawling
– Fine motor skills: eye–hand coordination
• Cognitive
Recognition, pretending, memory of several days
• Socioemotional
Unique personalities, confidence, and exploration
• Considerations for program design
Play through sensorimotor: vivid colors, sounds, soft
balls and blocks and teething toys, graduated nesting
toys, wooden spoons, dolls, and hand puppets
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
• Offer a variety of programs and services for
infants and toddlers.
• Pair mother or father with the infant.
• Programs featuring music and movement
are naturally enjoyed and facilitate motor
skill, language, and sensory development.
Early Childhood: Preschool Years
• Physical
Bodies lengthen, body fat decreases, movements are faster.
• Cognitive
Attention to tasks, imaginative thinking, and pretend play, and
consideration of actions and feelings of others increases.
• Socioemotional
– Increasing perceptual, motor, cognitive, and language
skills
– Surplus energy, new initiatives, peer relationships,
increasing amount of time and energy; value of play with
peers
• Considerations for program design
– Opportunities for running, kicking, throwing, and catching
large soft balls
– Memory developing rapidly; simple rules enjoyed
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
• Younger-kids camp programs give parents a
break for a couple of hours.
• Encourage children to take the initiative to test
new skills and abilities and to further refine
skills to carry over to the next life stage:
– Gross motor skills
– Memory
– Attention
– Symbolic play
Middle and Late Childhood:
Elementary School Years
• Physical
Growth slows, muscle mass gradually increases, motor
development is more coordinated
• Cognitive
Thought processes: considering evidence, planning
ahead, thinking logically, and formulating alternative
hypotheses
• Socioemotional
Special norms, vocabulary, rituals, and rules of
behavior flourish without the approval, or sometimes
even the knowledge, of adults.
(continued)
Middle and Late Childhood:
Elementary School Years (continued)
Seven functions of children’s friendship:
1. Companionship
2. Stimulation, excitement, and amusement
3. Physical support
4. Ego support
5. Feedback to help maintain an impression of self
6. Social comparison of whether the child is “okay”
7. Intimacy and affection (where sharing and selfdisclosure take place)
(continued)
Middle and Late Childhood:
Elementary School Years (continued)
Considerations for program design:
• Special interest clubs are appealing and offer
opportunities to affiliate with a social group and
be active and creative.
• When faced with challenges, this age group
tends to persevere rather than become
frustrated and give up easily. Present
integrated cognitive and physical skills.
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
1. Learning new skills.
2. Mastery of rules and competition.
3. Competition versus cooperation.
A variety of skills are necessary and the
nontraditional nature of the activities are
important so that all participants can feel a
sense of contribution and accomplishment to
the larger group.
Adolescence: Teenage Years
• Physical
– Sudden, uneven, and unpredictable jump in the growth of
almost every part of the body; height spurt and weight
increase, preoccupation with body
– Social comparisons and formation of sexual identity
• Cognitive
– Improvements in processing and memory, think of
possibilities, not just reality or practicalities; speculate
and hypothesize
– Teenagers in a position to make personal decisions and
independent choices that could have far-reaching
consequences for their future (friends, career, sex,
drugs?)
(continued)
Adolescence:
Teenage Years (continued)
• Socioemotional
– Identity: finding out who one is, where one is headed in life
– Important to actively experiment with numerous roles and
identities; a healthy identity is flexible, adaptive, and open to
changes in society, in relationships, and in careers
• Considerations for program design
– Consistent staff to whom they can relate, look up to, and from
whom they will model prosocial behaviors . . . someone they
want to be seen with
– Advisory board: cross section of teens viewed as leaders and
associated with different social groups
– Environment: feel free from parental control or influence; trying
to differentiate themselves from parents and family
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
• Take an empowerment approach to programming.
• Staff the facility with young adults (e.g., college
students) that teens look up to. Teens should not
feel constrained or threatened in their presence.
• Teens are becoming more autonomous and want
more control over their activities and environments.
• Provide flexible and appealing environments and
activities that facilitate this exploration in an active
and healthy manner.
Early Adulthood: 20s and 30s
• Physical
– Reach their peak physical performance at 19 to 26.
– After age 30, muscle tone and strength decline, body fat
increases, eyes lose elasticity.
• Cognitive
– Use reflective judgment when solving problems. Think deeply
about many aspects of politics, their career and work,
relationships, and life.
– More skeptical, often are not willing to accept an answer as
final; face constraints imposed by reality; the idealism they held
as adolescents declines.
(continued)
Discussion:
Subject: Developmental Characteristics
• What are some important developmental
characteristics that affect the leisure and
recreation behaviors of young adults? What
about middle adults?
Early Adulthood:
20s and 30s (continued)
• Socioemotional
– Development of friendships and romantic
relationships is an intricate balance of intimacy and
commitment on the one hand and independence
and freedom on the other.
– Inability to develop meaningful relationships with
others results in feelings of isolation and can harm a
person’s personality.
– People often seek to establish their emerging career
in a particular field; they may work hard to move up
the career ladder and improve their financial
standing.
(continued)
Early Adulthood:
20s and 30s (continued)
• Considerations for program design
– Travel and cultural activities tend to be affordable.
– Team sports tend to be social; sports provide a
physical outlet for diffusing work-related stress and
opportunities to develop and refine physical skills.
– This age group has disposable income to invest in
specialized recreation equipment.
– Networking and social events are important.
– This age group volunteers with charitable
organizations.
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
• A sport and social club is a commercial recreation
organization that targets members 21 to 35. It offers
intramural sports (soccer, football, softball,
volleyball, basketball, kickball), games ( billiards,
cards, darts), adventure recreation and exercise
classes (yoga, kayaking, rock climbing, dancing),
social events and parties, trips, and volunteerism
opportunities, such as charity events.
• Young adults vary widely in their recreation needs
and motivations. Offer courses and leagues
catering to different levels of skill and competition.
(continued)
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
(continued)
• Message boards on Web sites allow members to
chat, exchange information, announce social
gatherings, and find players for intramural sports
teams.
• This age group is drawn to active pursuits that
challenge them physically, creatively, and
intellectually.
• Social networking is important; therefore, events
such as parties, charity events, sport leagues, and
festivals are popular among young adults.
Middle Adulthood: 40s and 50s
• Physical
Rate of aging varies between people. Skin wrinkles. Hair
thins. Joints stiffen. Bone loss is progressive. People lose
height, and many gain weight. Hearing is no longer as acute.
Eye acuity declines.
• Cognitive
4 of 6 areas of mental functioning reach their highest level at
this age:
1. Vocabulary (understanding ideas expressed in words)
2. Verbal memory (encoding and recalling meaningful
words)
3. Inductive reasoning (recognizing and understanding
patterns and relationships in a problem)
4. Spatial orientation (visualizing and mentally rotating
stimuli in 2- and 3-dimensional space)
(continued)
Middle Adulthood:
40s and 50s (continued)
• Socioemotional
– Guide next generation by parenting, teaching, leading, and
doing things that benefit the community.
– Question how time should be spent and reassess priorities.
Leisure: the first time that they have the opportunity to diversify
their interests.
• Considerations for program design
This age group wrestles with generativity and stagnation:
– Self-expression, self-exploration, and activities replace roles
lost from the “empty nest” experience or the death of parents.
– Physical changes with age become more visible; it’s important
to emphasize vitality during this stage of life.
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
• Interests may change from more strenuous
physical forms of exercise (aerobics,
running), to more expressive and social
forms of physical activity (yoga, Pilates,
dance, water aerobics, and hiking and
walking).
• Activities often include a social component
and foster the development of social
support networks and friendships.
Late Adulthood: Senior Years
• Physical
– Every part of the body slows: speed of walking and
thinking, reaction time and reading time, and speech
and heart rate.
– Bodily system becomes less efficient: The heart
pumps less blood, arteries harden, digestive organs
are less efficient, lungs lose capacity, sleeping is
less sound, and sexual responses slow.
– People get shorter as they age; this is caused by
bone loss in the vertebrae. Weight drops.
– Senses are less sharp.
(continued)
Late Adulthood:
Senior Years (continued)
• Cognitive
– Mechanics: Speed and accuracy, sensory input,
attention, visual and motor memory, and discrimination all
decline with age.
– Pragmatics: Improvement into old age in reading and
writing skills and language comprehension is possible for
many people.
• Socioemotional
– This age group reflects on the past and reviews life
experiences and integration within the broader
community, including culture, ethnicity, gender, and
interpersonal relationships with family and friends.
– Self-esteem often drops significantly when people reach
their 70s and 80s. This is related to personal control.
Social support is important.
(continued)
Late Adulthood:
Senior Years (continued)
• Considerations for program design
– Involvement: Use advisory board or needs
assessment surveys to develop program ideas.
– Diversity of population: Major differences in health
and functioning have been identified between
people in the 65–74, 75–84, and 85 and older age
groups and among individuals within each of these
groups.
– Provide choice and variety.
– Provide social connectedness.
Discussion:
Subject: Baby Boomers
The baby boomers are aging and have begun
to hit retirement age.
Are baby boomers’ recreation and leisure preferences
going to be the same as those of previous
generations of older adults?
Why or why not?
Keep this in mind….I don’t want to just play bridge and sit
around all day….
Examples From Recreation
and Leisure Service Sectors
• Chronic disease training: Instructors are trained in
common chronic diseases associated with later life and
their symptoms and strategies for managing symptoms.
•
• Peer instructors: It is more motivating to follow a peer
leader than a young person clad in a tight-fitting
spandex outfit.
• Health and wellness seminars: A variety of topics
such as financial management, reflexology, nutrition,
and homeopathy provide resources that serve the
whole person.
Summary
• Leisure affords people of all ages unique
opportunities for enjoyment, fun, pleasure,
affiliation, movement, skill, and personal
development.
• Recreation professionals should gain
insight into the process of applying the
knowledge of these age-related
characteristics to design, programming, and
implementation of recreational
opportunities for people across the life
span.
Discussion:
Subject: Sunnyvale Resort
• You are a recreation coordinator at Sunnyvale Resort, which is located
on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Each day your department offers a threehour “camp” for children ages 6 to 12. You have an arts and crafts area
with tables and chairs in a shaded area by the pool, a large grassy area
next to the beach suitable for yard games and sports, and of course
the sandy beach area. Your recreation supply closet is stocked with
enough equipment and supplies for sports, games, and arts and crafts.
This is a drop-in program, so from day to day you do not know the
composition of the group. Today you have four 6-year-olds, three 8year-olds, and one 10-year-old.
– How should you and your assistant organize the group for the camp?
– What are two to four games or activities that everyone in the group could enjoy?
How would you modify the activities to meet the needs of the younger and older
children?
– What two activities would be suited to each age group? Describe why they are
best for each specific age group.