Children in Bahrain have less playtime: Study

Children in Bahrain have less playtime compared to their peers in other GCC countries, a study said.

A total of 2,235 mothers residing in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, UAE, UK, Sweden, Singapore, Australia and China were surveyed for the annual Fun City Children’s Play Index.

Bahrain came seventh out of the nine countries. Sweden came first overall while UAE was the highest-ranking GCC country.

The survey was conducted by YouGov in collaboration with Landmark Leisure and Fun City. The study regards playtime as composed of social entertainment, physical activities, digital gaming and creative activities.

Aamnah Husain, an expert at Fun City, said: “This initiative has prompted social awareness and change towards one of the most basic needs of a child. The 4th edition of the Fun City Children’s Play Index brings in lots of knowledge to parents as it is drawing parallels and contrasts between children’s lifestyle in our region and those from other countries in Asia, Europe and Australia. I am also glad to see that the amount of active play children in the region enjoy, competing with the developed countries, especially physical play, creative play and social entertainment.”

“I do believe that with the big initiatives by the government and organisations, we have seen a dramatic change in behaviour in the region. This ranking does not only provide a comparative, but it also throws up areas of improvement and opportunities of merging play more frequently in the daily lives of our children,” said Landmark Leisure chief operating officer Silvio Liedtke.