National Trust wants children to roam
I was a Trustee of Children’s Links – a childcare charity – for the best part of a decade. Unitl I joined I had not thought about how hard it was for children to have the opportunities for playing outside might generation enjoyed. This article demonstrates the need for this cracking campaign by the National Trust to get kids back into the world of climbing trees and muddy knees. It tells us:
Too many parents are cooping up their families and denying them an adventurous outdoor childhood, according to a survey commissioned by the National Trust.
Published to mark the all-day Natural Childhood Summit , the data marks the latest stage of the trust’s determined attempt to see more under-13s with tree-climbing skills and muddy knees.
Carried out by YouGov, the poll found that 45% of parents with children aged 12 and under wanted “more local safe places to play” as an incentive to allow their children a freer rein. Pressed on what “safe” meant, 37% of those unhappy with present arrangements cited “stranger danger”, 25% a lack of doorstep green space and 21% too much traffic on routes to playing fields, the countryside or parks.
The two most popular solutions were more supervision at play spaces, from school staff to park keepers, and more activities organised by schools or youth groups. They were proposed by 32% and 31% of the representative sample of 419 parents interviewed across the country.
The trust is also worried that parental fears appeared to be infecting children who had picked up worries about everything from tree-climbing being more dangerous than fun, to not going out in poor weather “in case you slip or catch a cold”. Role models who made a point of going out in the cold, such as Sir Ernest Shackleton or Robert Scott, have meanwhile given way to the heavily-armed and often alien protagonists of computer games. Tim Gill, the author of Rethinking Childhood ,who is speaking at today’s summit, said: “It’s perfectly natural for parents to want to protect their children. But it’s also a simple fact that children can only become confident and capable adults if they are allowed to take some responsibility for themselves as they grow up.