Position Papers


Out-of-School Time: Risks and Opportunities for New Hampshire Youth
by Candice Leonard, Ph.D.
Director of Research & Policy Analysis
Children's Alliance of New Hampshire

Later this month, children all over New Hampshire will have a week off from school. While children and teachers may look forward to this time off, working parents have to figure out where and how their children will spend this time. The question of how children will spend their unsupervised out of school time seems especially relevant to school vacation weeks, but it is a problem faced by parents, students and communities every day, all year round. There are approximately 31,000 youth in New Hampshire who are unsupervised after school. Additionally, because many children are unsupervised daily in the early morning hours before school, and also during school vacations, snow days, and holidays, these time periods are now referred to, collectively, as out-of-school time. Out-of-school time presents children with both opportunities and risks-and it presents adults with a reminder of our responsibility to do what we know is in the best interest of children.

Young children spending time home alone should be taught basic home safety procedures, and parents need to establish guidelines around issues such as answering the phone, opening the door, preparing food and who to call in case of emergency. Keeping them safe is the first priority, of course, but we should also consider the quality of their experience during these hours. Many young people spend this time on the couch, television remote in hand, exposed to images and information that are harmful and disturbing at worst; dull and uninspiring at best. Many spend this time alone, perhaps exacerbating the depression that is becoming more common in school age children. Passing time in sedentary activities such as watching television, playing video games and chatting with friends on line contributes to childhood obesity, which has become a serious health concern. We also know that young children home alone discover alcohol, cigarettes, and unlocked firearms. Children who begin self-care at younger ages are at increased risk for truancy, stress, poor grades, and risk-taking behavior.

The hours between three and six in the afternoon present teens with ample opportunity for initiation into sexual activity and substance abuse. The juvenile crime rate triples during these three hours, and this is also when young people are most likely to be victims of a violent crime committed by a non-family.

Out-of-school time presents children with both opportunities and risks. As adults, it is our responsibility to try to minimize the risks and maximize the opportunities by developing out-of-school time programs and activities that contribute to the positive development of New Hampshire youth. We are wasting their potential and diminishing their choices for tomorrow by allowing their time to be squandered in boredom and risk-taking. Young people should be using this time to explore their interests and talents, participate in sports and recreation, develop social skills, do homework, strengthen academic skills, and participate in service projects in their communities.

A great deal of research clearly shows that quality out-of-school-time programming reduces risk factors and enhances protective factors in children's lives. Youth who attend quality out-of-school time programs have better peer relationships, emotional adjustment, grades, and conduct in school. Teachers and principals report that students become more cooperative, learn to handle conflicts better and develop an interest in recreational reading. In one study, children who attended an afterschool program missed fewer days of school, had better homework completion, and higher test scores. Students who spend one to four hours per week in extracurricular activities are 49% less likely to use drugs and 37% less likely to become teen parents than students who do not participate in out of school programs. In a recent survey of police chiefs, 86% said that expanding after school and educational child care programs would greatly reduce youth crime and violence. Ninety-one percent of police chiefs said America will pay later in crime, welfare and other costs, if greater investments in after-school and educational child care aren't made now.

The good news is that there is a great deal of public support for the development of quality out-of-school-time programs. According to a recent poll, 92% of Americans believe there should be organized activities for children and teens during out-of-school hours. Another nationwide study found that 75% of Americans were willing to either pay more taxes or forego a tax cut to provide children with good early childhood development programs and quality after school programs. Here in New Hampshire, a recent report from the Providian Financial Childcare Initiative found that 81% of parents and 83% of employers expressed strong support for making public school buildings and playgrounds available for childcare if the costs were paid by parents.

The New Hampshire Child Advocacy Network (NH CAN), a diverse coalition of nearly one hundred individuals and organizations, led by the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire, has identified out-of-school-time programming as an important piece of its Children's Agenda 2001, and child advocates around the state will be focusing on this issue in the year ahead. If you would like to see the children in your community benefit from out-of-school-time programming, call, write, or email your state legislators and ask them to support upcoming bills and initiatives that address this issue. You can find out the names and contact information for your legislators at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ie/whosmyleg.

Parents, youth-serving professionals and community leaders who would like to learn more about establishing out-of-school-time programs can call PlusTime New Hampshire at 798-5850, or the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at (781) 283-2547 (www.niost.org). For information on what you can do make New Hampshire one of the best places anywhere for a child to grow up, see the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire web site at www.ChildrenNH.org.