Indicator: 19 - Family Learning and Cultural Activities

Why This Is Important

Part of nurturing the development of children is to provide opportunities for them to explore their community. Exposure to various educational and cultural environments can expand children’s knowledge and understanding of their world, and it can help them learn how to learn. Families need opportunities in their community to nurture a child’s intellect and sense of wonder.

Where We Stand

In both 2000 and 2001, well over half of all adults with children living at home reported that they were involved in one or more cultural or learning activities with their child(ren) in the past month. For most of those activities, the percentage reporting such involvement increased in 2001, sometimes significantly.

Data Sources and Context

Maine data for this indicator comes from the Maine Development Foundation 2000 and 2001 Surveys of Maine Citizens. The 2000 Survey was conducted in September 2000 by Market Decisions, Inc.; the 2001 Survey was done between August 20 and September 6, 2001, by Strategic Marketing Services. In both years a randomly selected statewide sample of 601 households was interviewed by telephone. Special effort was made to include an adequate number of parents with children living primarily at home (401 in 2000, and 425 in 2001), so that sub-sample was representative of parents in Maine. Maine survey data is available on-line at http://mdf.org.