Family Involvement and the Enjoyment of Family Fun Time Activities

Shelby Blake

Longwood University

Sociology 345

Dr. Pederson

December 7th, 2022

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to see if sending children home with activities for their families was successful in building a stronger bond. Partnering with the Andy Taylor Center and Head Start, data was analyzed by both open and closed ended questions as well as addressing demographic information, enjoyment of activities, family involvement, and the completion of activities. As this was a mixed methods study, the success rate percentage, as well as the unsuccessful percentage rate, was measured by using family involvement as the dependent variable in the quantitative data and the enjoyment of family fun time activities as the independent variable in the qualitative data section. The unsuccessful and successful percentages will come from the study when looking at how much families enjoyed the family fun time activities. Towards the end of research, our qualitative findings showed the common themes of family bonding time, children learning different skills, and teamwork among parents and their children. Because of these themes, it was shown through research that family fun time activities helped strengthen the bond between parents and their children.

Introduction

Parental involvement has become a crucial part in determining the success of early childhood development. Whether it be within the schooling system, at home, on vacation, or anywhere that their children are involved, the amount of parental involvement can have an affect on how the child grows (Voorhis et al., 2013). By using the S.M.A.R.T objectives – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-framed evaluation – and Epstein’s (2010) six types of involvement, as well as other studies, previous research lead to a more positive outcome regarding parental involvement in early childhood development and education. This will be evaluated throughout the paper. Although multiple studies lean towards a more positive view of parental involvement, one study by researchers examines the amount of involvement needed before it can be seen as a negative impact for a child’s wellbeing (Wong et al., 2018). 

Literature Review 

Generally, parental involvement in the early stages of childhood development can be tied together. However, research has illustrated that parental involvement can have an effect within the schooling system, at home, on vacation, or anywhere that their children are involved. To see higher success rates throughout schooling and life, schools must work together with families to support involvement within learning and in the household (Henderson et al., 1994). Not only this, but parental involvement has become such a crucial part in determining the success of children as they grow and go into the real world. This literature review will examine the factors that lead to a more positive outcome regarding parental involvement in early childhood education. Additionally, it will illustrate how Epstein’s six types of involvement are able to intersect with early childhood education (Epstein, 2010). 

Lack of time, financial resources, access, and lack of awareness have become known as the four areas that are barriers in regards to parental involvement. Coming from a lower socioeconomic background, some parents are not able to give their children the resources they need to help shape their future, especially in the earlier stages of life (Barnes et al., 2016). Because of these hardships, some children are sent to live in non-parental care and can become more vulnerable to a variety of negative outcomes further on in their lives. Children in this type of situation will attend readiness programs, one of those being Head Start. With this program, studies suggest that there is an improvement in preschool-based parent involvement for children living in the homes of non-parental care (Pratt et al., 2014). 

When it comes to early childhood education, parental involvement has often been cited as a way to achieve more academic success (Camacho-Thompson et al., 2016). Epstein (2009) alleged that there were many reasons for developing and establishing a partnership between the school, community, and family as a whole. Whether it be parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, or collaborating with the community, each of these six types of involvement overlap to create challenges and families must involve themselves to have these challenges met (Đurišić et al., 2017). Although parental involvement has been linked to higher success rates in early childhood development, there has been an increasing amount of evidence that suggests how far parental involvement can go before it is seen in a negative way for the child’s wellbeing (Wong et al., 2018). Also known as “helicopter parenting,” overbearing parents show signs of being anxious and sometimes becoming too involved in their children’s life in the early stages. Because of this, children can become more susceptible to having lower self-esteem, as well as some behavioral and emotional problems (Wong et al., 2018).  

Although only parental involvement and early childhood education were discussed in this part of the literature review, studies have shown that there are a numerous amount of other concepts that work with the implementation of family activities and how this impacts family involvement as a whole. With this being said, if a child were to have more positive than negative engagements with parents over the beginning stages of their life, success rates for said child will increase. Speaking from the past as well as the present, research studies have failed to show just how broad parental involvement can be in early learning in regards to how much initiative needs to take place (Gross et al., 2019). Because of this, further research needs to be examined in hopes that parental engagement in early learning can be defined more remotely than its current broad explanation. 

Data and Methodology

Instrument 

A survey questionnaire was created by the 50 members of the Social Research and Program Evaluation class at Longwood University. The survey asked both open and closed ended questions. Items on the survey were designed to evaluate SMART objectives of the five activities that were completed the previous week by Head Start and Andy Taylor Center families. Items were included that also addressed demographic information, enjoyment of activities, family involvement, and completion of activities. Hard copies of the questionnaire were distributed to Head Start and the Andy Taylor Center.

Sample

The non-probability sample for this study was based on 99 children (ages three to five). Seventy-nine children Head Start in three separate counties. Head Start is a federally subsidized preschool for families with economic need. Twenty-one children attend the Andy Taylor Center which is located on a college campus, and families apply and pay for their children to attend. Attached to the questionnaire was a children’s book to incentivize families to return the survey. Guardians of the children were asked to complete the survey and return it to the preschool the following day. Teachers sent a reminder home with the children to return any outstanding questionnaires. This resulted in 16 questionnaires being returned. Overall, there was a 16.2% percent response rate. 

Quantitative Analysis

Quantitative analysis of the returned surveys is based on the close-ended questions. For this study, the dependent variable is family involvement. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “How involved did the family feel during the completion of the family fun activity?”. The answer choices for this question were listed on a scale from 0-10, with zero being ‘not at all’ and 10 being the greatest amount. For this study, the independent variable is the enjoyment of family fun time activities. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “How much did your family enjoy the family fun activity?” The answer choices for this item were given on a scale from 0-10 with zero being ‘not at all’ and ten being the greatest amount. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze these variables.

Qualitative Analysis

Qualitative analysis of the returned surveys was based on open-ended questions. The open-ended questions on the survey were, “What did your family enjoy most about these activities? Why?”, “What did your child learn from these activities?”, and “What recommendations would you suggest to make these activities better?”. To answer the research question that asks“How does the implementation of family fun time activities impact family involvement?”, inductive open coding was used to determine recurring themes in the participant’s responses.

Findings 

Quantitative Findings 

Quantitative analysis of the returned surveys is based on the close-ended questions. For our research study, the dependent variable is family involvement. A variable that is assumed to depend on or be caused by another variable is known as the dependent variable. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “How involved was your family throughout the activity?”. The answer choices for this question were listed on a scale from 0-10, with zero being ‘not at all’ and 10 being the greatest amount. By using our given codebook, a document that describes the locations of variables and lists the assignments of codes to the attributes composing those variables, I was able to find exactly what number my dependent variable would be, so that it could be used for further data points. By using our dependent variable, the mean could also be found. Using RStudio and based on the 16 current responses, the mean response for this variable is 9.5.

As mentioned above, the dependent variable is assumed to depend on another variable. This variable that the dependent variable depends on is known as the independent variable. For this study, the independent variable is the enjoyment of family fun time activities. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “How much did your family enjoy this activity?” The answer choices for this item were given on a scale from 0-10 with zero being ‘not at all’ and ten being the greatest amount. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze these variables. As my project is looking toward the obstacle course that is given to children, the codebook was then used to find which number corresponded with my question. By using my independent variable, the standard deviation could be found. By using RStudio and plugging in my independent variable, the standard deviation for this sample is 1.62.

When determining the relationship between the independent and dependent variable, a bivariate analysis is used. When finding this similarity, the aggregate is used. However, in my study, my independent variable was a close-ended question, just as my dependent variable was. Because of this, I used a correlation test when coding to help find the similarity between the two variables. In the end, the correlation between the independent and dependent variables was 0.2789. 

Qualitative Findings

Qualitative analysis of the returned surveys was based on open-ended questions. The open-ended questions on the survey were, “What did your family enjoy most about these activities? Why?”, “What did your child learn from these activities?”, and “What recommendations would you suggest to make these activities better?”. To answer the research question, “How does the implementation of family fun time activities impact family involvement?”,  inductive open coding was used to determine recurring themes in the participant’s responses.

As different families try out these fun activities, a survey was given at the beginning for guardians to fill out. Within the 16 surveys that were received, three themes are presented that show family bonding time, children learning different skills, and teamwork among parents and their children. When looking at the first question in the survey, “What did your family enjoy most about these activities? Why?,” most responses gave the common theme of family bonding. As shown with respondent #01, family bonding can be seen since it is, “a free convenient activity to do as a family; pre-packaged; easy to follow directions.” Following with respondent #03, “Our family really enjoyed how simple the activities were and how much our child enjoyed them, even completing some with siblings.” Continuing with family bonding, respondent #04 had said that they enjoy, “time spent together; the talks, learning.” To show one last example of how these family fun time activities had a common theme of family bonding, respondent #12 had said, “my family and son enjoyed doing the little things because it was together.”

To support the common theme of learning different skills within the family fun time activities, the second survey question asked, “What did your child learn from these activities?” As most responses within the 16 surveys were completely filled out, many children learned patience and following instructions. As an example of this, respondent #01 said their child, “practiced cutting with scissors; listening to and following instructions; practiced counting.” As well as the previous comment, respondent #14 stated their child learns that, “it takes time and patience to complete things but it can also be fun.” Following this, respondent #15 had said their child learned, “patience not giving up if something doesn’t go her way or look how she expected it to.” As one final quote to support this common theme of learning different skills, respondent #16 had said, “my son learned different techniques from the activity that he can apply to real life.”

As a final common theme within the 16 surveys received, teamwork among parents and their children could be seen when answering the first question on the survey which states, “What did your family enjoy most about these activities? Why?” To support the idea of this common theme, respondent #02 stated, “so I enjoyed watching [child’s name] complete these activities while I assist her.” As well as this, respondent #05 had said, “it’s fun when you want to do something fun and enjoyable for kids and family. It can be a learning skill but fun for the kids.” Follow respondent #05, respondent #08 stated the teamwork among parents and their children by saying, “seeing her help me with the activities and having a good time.” As one last example to give support to the claim of teamwork among parents and their children, respondent #10 wrote, “doing them together. [child’s name] says she loves doing things with mom and dad.”

Conclusion 

The purpose of this research study was to see if sending children home with activities for their families is successful in building a stronger relationship. After a thorough review of the completed sixteen surveys that were received, the three common themes –  family bonding time, children learning different skills, and teamwork among parents and their children – amongst the open-ended questions were quite easy to break down and separate. However, there were some quotes by parents that could either be put into more than one theme, or more than three common themes would arise. After conducting a thorough examination of past researchers and their studies, it can be seen that if parents spend more time with their children doing activities that are given, there will be a higher success rate among family involvement. This correlated with our studies as there was more enjoyment and presence within family involvement when doing family fun time activities. Although this may be the case, further research-to-practice partnership needs to be examined as studies have failed to show how large or small parents need to be involved in early stages of learning in regards to how much initiative needs to take place with the child.

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