Listen to thisWith worries about children becoming addicted to screen-time and computers, it’s heartening to know that the desire for outdoor play is still strong in many children. The recent case of one housing association that apparently wanted to ban child tenants from playing directly outside properties, due to noise complaints and fears of vehicles passing through the cul-de-sac, has highlighted the real need for safe outdoor play space.
For countless generations children have played together just outside their own houses. In this way they learned to organise themselves, take turns, reach compromises and, of course, get daily healthy exercise. The rise and domination of the car has changed this and in most roads children cannot now play outside because of the traffic: the obesity epidemic is the result.
The calorific intake by people in the 1950s was higher than it is now. The difference is that people walked much more and more adults were employed in heavy manual work. The whole obesity debate often overlooks this change in children’s lives. While it is true that it is difficult merely through exercise to lose weight, it is also true that a healthy lifestyle will help to avoid obesity in the first place, which is surely what we want for our children.
Research I have carried out, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation indicates it is precisely the type of cul-de-sac where the children were banned from playing that usually enables children to play outside. Outside play is also free of charge – unlike the many therapies and treatments promoted by people jumping on the obesity bandwagon.
In social housing it is well-known that if traffic can be slowed down significantly this increases social interaction and in turn the social well-being of the whole estate.
Stonewater housing association has said that there are good safety reasons for not allowing youngsters to play in a car park and vehicle turning area and has also said that it is working with a wide range of youth organisations to encourage the benefits of outdoor play.
Where traffic speeds are slow and children can play outside, parents talk about keeping an eye out for each other’s children, instilling a sense of camaraderie and forging community links. This is all the more vital at a time when politicians are bemoaning the lack of a “big society” and the decline of neighbourliness.
In zoos we know animals need to be able to run around outside their immediate environment and shelters. Animals who are cooped up in small enclosures without the freedom to run around develop both physical and mental illnesses. Children, like animals, need that freedom and too often planners ignore the fact that children up to the age of 10, and often older, prefer to play outside within sight and sound of their own home. Their parents also feel happier. It is there that they feel secure and know they can run home if they feel in any way threatened or if they’ve fallen over and grazed a knee.
While sports clubs, piano lessons, and organisations such as Scouts and Brownies can all enhance children’s lives, they do not give the benefits of undirected outdoor play. In play, children have to make the rules for themselves, reach agreements and make compromises without any adult intervention.
Children only go to school for approximately half the days in the year. The other days are potentially free for play all day. Even on school days, children play in the late afternoon/early evening and can get as much opportunity for exercise as they would in school.
Until we accept that play is a children’s right and that it depends on a child-friendly environment, rather than provision of facilities, we will continue to have children condemned to being prisoners in their own homes.
Rob Wheway is director of the Children’s Play Advisory Service
http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2015/oct/15/children-free-play-not-prisoners-homes
