Overall, parents of children with disabilities desired more
change in their child’s participation than parents of children
without disabilities. Parents of children with disabilities desired
the most change in unstructured physical activities and getting
together with other children in the communitydthe same areas
that had the largest group differences in terms of participation
frequency and involvement. Parents of children without disabilities
also desired the most change in unstructured physical activities.
Both groups of parents may have desired more change in
unstructured physical activities so that they could shift some of the
responsibilities associated with the managing or planning of these
activities to their children. This shifting of responsibilities is part
of the developmental process and might also provide parents with
some respite and time for other activities. This result also seems to
be consistent with the trend in the United States for school-age
children to spend more of their discretionary time in sedentary
activities (television/videos, computer games) than unstructured
physical activities.2,3,40 These results have important implications
given the significant group disparities found in participation in
these activities and the impact this might have on the physical and
emotional health and development of all children.1,4,16,40