Families, Pre-School Sport, and Physical Activity

Bringing together international authors writing from a social science perspective on babies, toddlers and pre-school sport and physical activity, this book explores the social and cultural context in which children under five take part in sport and physical activity.

The book provides a wider understanding of how under-five sport and physical activity (PA) can be understood and how parents’ decisions are shaped by economic, cultural, and changing family, work, and social settings. As early childhood is increasingly understood as a time when children are impacted by inequality, poverty and unequal access to opportunities, the text considers how access to enrichment activities may exacerbate inequalities in a post pandemic society and during a cost-of-living crisis. The book is organised into three parts, covering theoretical concepts of childhood and parenting, and then presents parent perspectives, and inclusion in pre-school sport and PA from a UK and international perspective respectively.

This is an excellent introduction to the key trends and patterns in under-fives sport and PA for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying sport studies, sport management, sport science, sociology, and cultural studies. It helps students to consider how these patterns can be understood through a socio-cultural lens on equality, families, childhood, and parenting. It is also a valuable resource for academics and researchers in sport, sociology, and social sciences more broadly.

Georgia Allen-Baker is an Assistant Professor at Northumbria University, UK. Her research draws on psychological and sociological theory to understand individual and collective experiences in sport and physical activity domains. Recently, she has focused on parental motivations, family experiences, and societal implications of early sport engagement.

Philippa Velija is Interim Dean of School of Education at the University of Roehampton, London, UK. She is co-author of Gender Equity in UK Sport Leadership and Governance and Figurational Research in Sport, Leisure, and Health. Philippa is interested in understanding the socio-cultural study of inequalities in sport and leisure.