Children should play near ‘risky’ cliffs and water to tackle obesity, MPs claim
Children should play near “potentially dangerous” hazards such as cliffs and water to give them a “feeling of thrill and excitement” and help tackle obesity, a group of MPs and peers will say. A report published this week by Baroness Floella Benjamin will warn that childhood obesity must be tackled by encouraging “better play” amongst children and particularly “risky play” outside. It will warn that traditional playgrounds with “fencing, rubber flooring and bright colours” are too safe and are not “properly challenging” or “exciting”.
The report calls for children to be encouraged to take part in “risky play” and recommends that schools do more to get children outside of the classroom. It states: “Risky play involving perhaps rough and tumble, height, speed, playing near potentially dangerous elements such as water, cliffs and exploring alone with the possibility of getting lost gives children a feeling of thrill and excitement and other accompanying benefits.” The All Party Parliamentary Group publishing the report, led by Ian Austin MP, also claims: “It would be desirable for all teachers to spend less time on the didactic ‘delivery of the curriculum’ and more time interacting playfully with children”. It highlights so-called “forest-schools”, which offer more time outdoors in dangerous situations to improve self-reliance and self-confidence in children. Helen Clark, a former MP and lead author of the report said: “We are calling for a ‘whole child’ approach so play and physical exercise shouldn’t be looked at in isolation. In China, children do better if play time is factored in within the school curriculum and academic results are improving as a result of that. “We argue that a lot of productive learning can come out via play and team work and assessing risk. You cannot just let the Government invest money into promoting sport because not all children are sporty. If you only concentrate on sport, you are going to find that those who are good at sports anyway are going to get even better at it. The report calls for fewer playgrounds to have fences and soft landing material. “This strategy in the past has been misguided. We want Ofsted to up its game for the 21st century and include play as part of their rating.”