Seven out of ten children from rural areas have never been on a holiday or camp at the sea, and six out of ten have never gone to a camp in the mountains, according to a study conducted by World Vision Romania among parents who have children in the first grades in elementary school in rural communities.
More than a quarter of parents say that they do not spend any money on children’s activities over the summer, and almost two out of ten parents spend less than 100 lei.
Half of the children do not do any kind of educational activities during the summer and more than two out of five children do not have spaces in the community to spend their free time: parks, swimming pools, hiking trails. More than nine out of ten children have never left the country, according to the World Vision Romania report.
World Vision Romania also found that more than half of the surveyed parents from the countryside have never taken their children on a paid vacation, and more than a quarter of the families say that they do not spend any money on their children’s summer activities small.
61.4 % of the parents have never gone on holiday in other localities, with to their children.
Two in ten of these children spend their summer vacation working in the family’s household.
Summer activities for the elementary children in the Romanian countryside, according to their parents:
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70.7% play outside in the yard or in the village;
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18.1% work or help their parents with the chores;
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6.2% spend time alone on the Internet or watch TV;
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3.9% leave in other localities;
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1.1% other activities.
As for how many times have the children in the countryside been in the mountains or at the seaside, 66.4% say they have never been at the seaside. 17.8% say they were 1 to 3 times since they were born. 59.5% have never been in the mountains, while around 24% were 1 to 3 times since they were born.
World Vision Romania is therefore launching a campaign through which it aims, with the help of donors, to change this and take more than 400 children to the sea or to the pool. Anyone who wants to help a child see the sea for the first time, enter a swimming pool for the first time, go on a water slide for the first time and have a summer of first experiences can donate on the campaign website or by SMS at 8864 with text SPERANTA (cost 4 euros/ month).