Nearly 40 percent of children in Taiwan spend less than an hour a day playing, while 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 spend their free time playing online games, a survey released on Monday last week by the Child Welfare League Foundation showed.
Although the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF recommends that every child have at least one hour of play time every day to promote healthy development, 37.7 percent of children aged six to nine in Taiwan have less than an hour of free play every day and 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 play for no more than one hour per day, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that 43.7 percent of elementary-school students have less than one hour of play time during weekdays and usually only play on weekends.
As children grow, they generally spend more time at school, doing homework and taking part in extracurricular activities, leaving little time for leisure activities, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that 40 percent of children aged nine to 12 often play online games and 80 percent of parents consider such games to fall within the scope of “free play.”
Children playing video games passively receive a large amount of audio-visual information, but they seldom have opportunities for active participation or creative play, the foundation said.
The survey also showed that more than 40 percent of parents spend at least five days a week playing with their children, while 15.3 percent seldom or never play with their children.
In addition, only 54.3 percent of children regularly go to outdoor areas, such as parks, while 38 percent regularly visit indoor places, such as supermarkets, shopping centers, department stores or convenience stores.
The survey was conducted by the foundation from Dec. 24 last year to Jan. 22, using online questionnaires sent to parents of children aged one to 12. A total of 707 valid samples were collected.
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
DEMAND: The government should enact regulations in line with Austria and Germany to incorporate vegan nutrition into school meals, an advocate said More than 1,000 people yesterday marched in Taipei to promote veganism, calling for legislation to incorporate vegan diets into school lunches and the national net zero emissions program. Participants gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building for the march, which was organized by the Vegan Action Network (VAN). Former ambassador to Chad Chiu Chung-jen (邱仲仁), actor Yankee Yang (楊子儀) and actress Cindy Lien (連俞涵) attended the event. VAN member Marianne Chao (趙梅君) said that the campaign aimed to urge the government to promote vegan diets across schools and government agencies via legislation and national policies, which would help build
RSS