Perception of winter from children and teenagers in Alberta, Canada: a case study of Edmonton and Plamondon

A major characteristic of Canada, second largest country in the world, remains its winters. Its population (about 32 million) has to endure one of the toughest cold season on Earth. Canadian Prairies' coldest month (January) averages about -15oC (5º F) and over 100 cm (more than 3 feet) of snow is expected to fall every year. This paper investigates the hypothesis that there is an urban perception of winter that tends to be rather negative among children (8 to12-year-old) and teenagers (13 to17-year-old) that live in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, a city with a population of about 1 million. However, children and teenagers in the rural village of Plamondon, population less than 1,000, have a winter perception that is relatively better. More than 100 participants were interviewed on six major aspects of their perception on winter. Although the winter season is perceived as the worst (namely because of the cold) by participants in both locations, children and teenagers in the rural area tend to spend more time outside (snowboarding, skiing, playing hockey), describe this season in better terms (beautiful, white, nice), prefer to spend it in a rural area, and find winter shorter than their urban counterparts. To a degree, age is also a factor in explaining how they look at winter.