Growing up in Peru: Time Use of Rural and Urban Children

Paper in Spanish - original title: Creciendo en el Peru: una Mirada Longitudinal al uso del Tiempo de las Ninos y las Ninas en al Campo y la Ciudad

While in recent years there has been a growing interest in the study of childhood transitions, research has focused primarily on early childhood and the transition of young children to primary school. Based on qualitative data from Young Lives, this research is focused on the transitions of a group of children aged between 9 and 10, as part of their social development. The main objective of the paper is to reflect how these children use their time to take on new roles and responsibilities in performing everyday tasks. In this regard, the authors are also interesting in the similarities and differences between children from rural or urban setting to understand the 'different childhood' and different ways children grow up in Peru.

As they grow up, children's responsibilities in the domestic and productive lives of their families increase. The authors find that the period between the ages of 7 and 8 years is an important marker of the responsibilities children assume. Mothers and children reported that, around this age, children learned to perform different tasks on their own. This age seems to be a milestone in children's growth and development.

The type of activity in which children participate and learn skills varies according to the contexts they are growing up in. For example, the inclusion of rural children in domestic and work activities happens at an earlier age than children in urban areas. Likewise, in urban areas the incorporation of children in work activities happens to a lesser degree because their parents work outside the home and the children cannot join them.

Despite the differences, the activities all children perform can be grouped into four types: domestic, school, work, and play and leisure. Of these, school is the activity that occupies most of the children's days, and is most valued by them and their families, as education offers the possibilities of a better life and breaking the cycle of poverty.