Dirty Weekend for Aussies

The average Australian child is spending no more than 10% of its free time playing outdoors at home, according to research by Newspoll for detergent company Omo, which (surprise surprise) wants parents to be 'less anxious about letting their kids get dirty'. The company has declared Sunday April 3rd 'National Dirt is Good Day'.

The poll showed kids were much more likely to spend time watching TV or playing computer games than they were to play outside. Sixty per cent of parents said they spent more time playing outdoors getting dirty when they were young than their children do now, and three in ten said more than twice as much.

Newspoll points to recent scientific findings which stress the value of 'constructive play' to a child's development and raise concerns about limiting such play, often due to worrying about dirt.

Newspoll interviewed 472 parents with a child in their household aged 10 or younger, in December 2004, on behalf of Hausmann and their client Omo. The research agency is online at www.newspoll.com.au , while the imminent festival of filth has its own very muddy-looking web site at www.omodirtisgood.com.au

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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