Children, Families and Leisure - Softcover

This book aims to further academic debate within the leisure and tourism studies community about the role of 'families' in contemporary life and the experiences of families and their children in the leisure environment. It is based on the recognition of the diverse nature of the family in the contemporary era and the position of children in families and society in general as active and knowing social agents rather than as passive objects. The family is on the one hand our first community with its own special kind of human attachment and on the other a little world on which the larger society is modelled. Families form the closest and most important emotional bond in humans. This relationship is what drives humanity and society, and positions families at the centre of leisure activities. This international and multi-disciplinary compilation of recent research into children and families examines progress made and challenges ahead for leisure studies. It extends the academic discourse to a wider understanding of what families, children and their leisure behaviour mean in today's societies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Annals of Leisure Research.

Heike Schänzel is a senior lecturer in International Tourism Management at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Research interests include tourist behaviour and experiences, sociality in tourism, and theory development in tourism and hospitality.

Neil Carr is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago as well as the Editor of Annals of Leisure Research. His research focuses on understanding behaviour within tourism and leisure experiences; with a particular emphasis on animals, children and families, and sex.