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Reviews the importance of fun in the appeal of children’s products, and the investigation by Just Kid Inc. and KidzEyes into what constitutes fun. Outlines ten fun dimensions that the research revealed through factor analysis of a questionnaire about 76 activities: fun can be friend‐oriented, empowering, creative, silly, sport‐oriented, competitive, family‐oriented, surprising/adventurous, relaxing, or rebellious. Gives illustrations of each of these ten factors; children received scores on each factors, and the top‐scoring children for each factor were examined to obtain a demographic profile of children who are most likely to find a particular dimension to be fun. Suggests how marketers can use the fun dimensions to develop new products and grow brands: this would include evaluation of how far existing products hit different kinds of fun and filling in gaps with other fun dimensions.

Describes a six‐year study of children’s Internet usage which shows how preferences and habits have changed over time; this was conducted by SpectraCom Inc and Circle 1 network. Explains the research methodology and the objectives, which were to identify trends in the amount of time spent by children online now and in future, their opinions about the future role of the Internet in society and the future of e‐commerce, and parents’ roles in children’s online activities. Concludes that there is need for a more child‐friendly content in Internet sites and for more parental involvement, that children will be influential in the market for alternative devices like mobile phones, that online shopping is likely to flourish, and that children have a growing interest in online banking.

Questions the validity of the KGOY dictum, ie that kids are getting older younger; this has been the driving force behind much dialogue about marketing to children over recent years. Explores the presumptions behind this trend: children are brand aware at earlier ages, they are more technologically aware and “graduate“ from dolls and action figures earlier, and puberty itself is earlier in girls; other issues like obesity, school violence, child abduction and terrorism demonstrate the involvement of children’s issues with the adult world. Reports a KGOY recalibration exercise by KidShop, however, which finds that children, while being aware of issues, are in fact quite satisfied with their status as children, rather than wanting to be older than they are.

Introduces the Fox Kids Cup, which brings children of both sexes together in a global football tournament; it is a Fox Kids brand which involves partnerships with other brands such as ASDA, Wagon Wheels and the Professional Footballers Association. Describes how the 2002 tournament Fox Kids Cup had its final rounds in Barcelona, and the leadup to this through skills challenge events, regional rounds, and the national final. Outlines the benefits to the partners from association with the Fox Kids Cup.

What does it take to build a “Kid Contract” for your brand in China? Just as anywhere, it involves understanding the nature, needs and wants of this specific audience. In the first of this two‐part piece, the author introduces some of the dynamics of Chinese kids today, the key external influences on them, their perception of self and their behaviour. In this second piece, the author will try to outline some of what he's found that can help in shaping an appropriate “Kid Contract” for a brand here, and communicating with this important target group. The author refers to a “Kid Contract” because in effect your brand must negotiate with the kid and/or give the kid leverage so he can negotiate with his parents.

I began my research at two suburban high schools in the spring of 2000, shortly after the one-year “anniversary” of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado. On April 20, 1999, Dylan Kelbold and Eric Harris entered their school and killed 10 classmates and 1 teacher, wounded 23 others, and then took their own lives in the library. It was the worst mass murder ever to take place on school grounds in the United States. I was particularly interested in looking at suburban schools during this time period because statistics showed juvenile crime, and in particular violence within the school systems, was on the decline, yet the perception of school violence seemed unrelated to these statistics (Brooks, Schiraldi, & Ziegenberg, 2000; Cook, 2000; Glassner, 1999). Following the widespread national attention given to the Columbine shootings,¹ public polls showed 71% of Americans believed a school shooting was likely to happen in their community (Brooks et al., 2000). A month after the Columbine shootings, a Gallup Poll found 52% of parents still feared for their children's safety at school (Brooks et al., 2000). I was interested in learning how this perception of violence and fear shaped the everyday lives of kids going to schools throughout the United States. I wanted to know how schools dealt with issues of violence and safety at the local level, and in particular, how discipline and punishment was thought about, practiced, and negotiated within public-school settings.

Purpose – Exploring children's perspectives on participation in social research provides sociologists with new insight into how to include children's voices and perspectives effectively in sociological studies of childhood.

Design/methodology/approach – Child-centered interviews were conducted with 20 children between the ages of 5 and 12 as part of a larger research project.

Findings – Findings from interviews, artwork, and researcher field notes suggest that the children interviewed enjoyed the experience of participating in child-centered social research, maintained serious attitudes toward their inclusion in social research and wish to be active participants in future research involving kids.

Practical implications – Suggestions are offered for future research studies of this population and recommendations are made to encourage American sociologists to consider the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in research endeavors.

This chapter aims to determine the marketing practices of kid-friendly hotels in Turkey by utilizing descriptive analysis. A total of 77 kid-friendly hotels operating in Turkey were surveyed through the examination of their websites. This chapter adopts a descriptive approach in defining marketing practices of kid-friendly hotels. The findings showed that various facilities and services are offered in kid-friendly hotels under the categories of “room options for children,” “food and beverage options for children,” “activities for children,” “price options,” and “children’s health and safety.” Although the results cannot be generalized beyond the scope of the study, this chapter revealed the current status of marketing to children in kid-friendly hotels operating in Turkey. Marketing implications are provided for practitioners and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

There are three main analytic challenges to studying kids, especially where the core focus is inequality: (1) minimizing the power imbalance between adults/researchers and kids/participants, (2) attending to the active and imaginative communication styles of young people, and (3) getting beneath the superficial rhetoric of meritocracy, colorblindness, and post-feminism. In this chapter, we draw from our own qualitative insights when studying middle school kids (grades 6–8, ages 11–14) in providing a systematic analysis of the effectiveness of distinct visual strategies and their respective strengths and limitations for producing rich, useful, and specific data. The insights gleaned are applicable to analyses of kids, understandings of inequality, and even methodological training.

This study aims to examine how couplepreneurs foster an entrepreneurial mindset in their kids.

A qualitative research approach with semi-structured interviews was used as the data collection technique. Narrative analysis was conducted on a sample of 20 couplepreneurs in Mthatha, South Africa.

Narratives of how couplepreneurs foster an entrepreneurial mindset in their kids included purchasing toys and games for kids that encourage entrepreneurship; competition and team activities among kids that are related to entrepreneurship; the piggy bank; encouraging kids to read entrepreneurial books; and kid entrepreneur showcases.

Sample size challenges are a notable limitation, including research being conducted in only one province of South Africa. Caution is advised when attempting to generalise the results to other contexts.

Understanding the strategies used by couplepreneurs to instil an entrepreneurial mindset in children can help parents to influence and encourage their children's entrepreneurial growth, resulting in more creative and innovative people who make a positive contribution to society, economy and the community.

While there is a body of literature on couple entrepreneurship, there are shortcomings in studies examining how coupleprenuers in African countries instil an entrepreneurial mindset in their children. As a result, this study aims to complement the current corpus of African literature on entrepreneurship, particularly in the context of South Africa.