Some places in the country have leisure clubs every single day. Other places have nothing. And children's leisure time is important for well-being, according to an expert.
There is table football in the junior club in Vissenbjerg and few rooms, while there is everything from Nintendo to trampoline lessons in the offer for the same age group in Vesterbro, Copenhagen. 12 min. ago
There is a lack of light in one room and there is no money to buy a lamp.
The materials for the craft workshop are donated and the table tennis table is broken.
Nevertheless, the children in Vissenbjerg on Funen are happy that they even have a club after 3rd grade. Because there wasn't one before the summer holidays.
It looks completely different in Vesterbro, Copenhagen.
Here you can go to DJ school, theatre and band, and it is open every day of the week.
In Vissenbjerg, the children can make themselves an open-faced sandwich, while at the club in Vesterbro, Copenhagen, there is a café with both cold and hot food. (Photo: © Signe Wolthers, DR)
The contrasts in what municipalities offer for children's leisure time after 3rd grade are large around the country (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/500-meter-kunne-aendre-maries-soens-hverdag-efter-skole-det-er-virkelig-en-helt-anden-verden), and DR has visited two of the extremes.
In Vissenbjerg, there was no club before the parents themselves got it up and running after the summer. The funds are small, the opening hours are limited, and the club could not exist without the volunteer parents.
But despite the humble conditions, the children are happy - because it is still better than going home alone to an empty house.
- It's fun to be here because there is a lot to do and all that. I don't really know what to do at home, says 10-year-old Vigga Damsgaard.
Both parents and children in Vissenbjerg are delighted that there is now an offer after school time.
10-year-old Emilie Skaarup Henriksen also doesn't think it's great to go home alone.
- Then I would just sit at home and watch TV, but it's more fun to be down here, says 10-year-old Emilie Skaarup Henriksen.
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New mapping of the leisure area
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The mapping covers municipal leisure pedagogical offers and is a first attempt to create a comprehensive overview.
It shows large municipal differences in supply, opening hours and prices. The number of offers drops especially after 3rd grade and again after 7th grade.
The mapping describes the structural framework but cannot show whether the differences have significance for the quality of the offers or the children's actual participation.
Source: VIVE note, Mapping of leisure offers in Denmark
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Countless possibilities in Copenhagen
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In the club in Vesterbro, the conditions are completely different, and the possibilities are many.
You can join a band in one of several music rooms, equipped with everything from drums to keyboards.
The craft room has both glitter and beads, and you can go to the hall. There is a 3D printer, Nintendo Switch - and much more.
And it's cool with many, many possibilities, says 12-year-old Ava Luckow Bønnelykke, who goes to the Vesterbro Ungdomsgård club every day.
- If you've had a bad day, you forget it a bit when you come to the club, because something is always happening, she says.
Ava Luckow Bønnelykke and Katinka Reguer Kåstrup are both 12 years old and use Vesterbro Ungdomsgård every day. And they find it hard to imagine a day without the club.
12-year-old Katinka Reguer Kåstrup also comes almost daily. She finds it very difficult to imagine a life without a club every day after school.
- Then I would actually become a bit sad, she says.
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Leisure clubs provide important community
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The municipal leisure clubs are a free space for many children, where they can relax and where they don't have to perform. That is the view of Ayse Kosar Larsen, head of the Center for Youth Research.
She believes it is a problem that the offers for children are so different.
- The children are a bit randomly lucky with what exists in the local area. We owe all children that they can participate in some leisure activities and some leisure communities, where there are adults who meet them with a certain curiosity and attention to their well-being, she says.
Ayse Kosar Larsen is head of the Center for Youth Studies and has researched leisure pedagogy. And children's leisure time is important, she believes. (Photo: © Tobias Hansen Dr Udstyr, DR)
Therefore, she wishes that a pedagogical offer was prioritized highly in all municipalities.
- It is a super important life arena in children's and young people's lives, which contributes to formation and zest for life and trains some of the competencies we need to get through a youth life well.
© DR
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This is how the mayor in Assens responds
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Assens Municipality has allocated 100,000 kroner per year until 2027 for the leisure club in Vissenbjerg. This must cover everything from salaries for pedagogical staff to materials for activities. Søren Steen Andersen (V) is mayor of Assens Municipality. But when there is inequality in leisure offers, it is, according to the mayor, a consequence of economic inequality between the municipalities.
- This is not a luxury package where you can just take from all the shelves, and it probably won't be either. But it is a prioritization based on what funds you have to work with. And this, this is what we can do.
- Everything is a prioritization, but it also tells the story that there is still some way to go before the municipalities can actually do what is stated in the equalization law; namely, that they must be able to provide roughly the same service level for roughly the same tax.
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Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.