I saw this article this week about the worries parents have about letting their children play outside http://www.standard.co.uk/incoming/fears-of-traffic-strangers-and-accidents-creating-generation-of-couch-kids-7996996.html
After doing a poll with 1000 parents it seems that parents are afraid of letting them out of their sight. Here are some of the statistics that they found:
Almost half of parents (48.8%) say concerns about strangers stop their youngsters playing outside while a similar proportion cite traffic as a barrier.
Nearly a third (30.7%) of parents say their son or daughter does not play outside the house due to fears that they will have an accident or be injured.
There were also concerns about intimidation from others and crime while around one in six (17.1%) say that their child does not play out because they simply want to be indoors.
I can understand the first stat. There is so much traffic on the roads and it seems to me that there has been a rise of traffic accidents over the years. There no longer seems to be any playing in the street unless you live in a cul-de-sac. Regarding the stat on being injured. Children can become injured anywhere. Being in the park or in the street is no different to being in the house. Accidents can happen anywhere. Children learn when they have accidents to be more careful or not to do x again. Falling over, getting knocks is all part of being a child. I am often amazed that I never broke a limb in childhood!
I wonder about the last stat. Do the children prefer to stay indoors and play because they are scared of going outside, is it because they would rather be amusing themselves with electronic equipment, they don’t like exercise or they are just homebodies. There could be so many reasons why this figure is fairly high.
I think we should be promoting children going outside, getting fresh air and taking care of themselves to some degree (age relevant of course). If they aren’t surely they are missing out on new experiences, gaining confidence and taking responsibility. We can give them the tools to do just that by talking about stranger danger, being streetwise and knowing what is safe and what is not.
Are your children streetwise? What do you think of the report?
I let my boys out front to ride on scooters and bikes on the pavement. (age 10 and 6) but not to cross roads unless I am with them. I think my 10 year old would be fine to cross small roads himself, but have to consider the younger. My eldest is off to high school next September so I have to let him have some independence now as he will be catching school bus by himself then!!!
It is hard to let them go, I so wish I could let them out as we were allowed out. they so need to get out and run off their energy when they can.
I completely agree with you Morag. I wish our children have the freedom we had when growing up. It is hard to let go. Thank you for your comment.
yep. my kids MUST play outside on a regular, everyday basis.
I like the Must. I ma not sure if I was clear in the post though. It is not about being outside, it is more about letting our children out of our sight and playing outside. I am yet to let mine given both are under 9 years old. Thank you Chris.
There is nothing bad in letting one’s children play outside.The fear these days is that so many things are going wrong all around us and no good parent would watch as their beloved children are slaughtered or gun down like animals in the slaughter house.It’s so unfortunate that we have come this far in a world that is supposed to be a peaceful place or all of us to live in.Children are such innocent and they wouldn’t mind walking in the garden… are the gardens safe these days? The answer is a capital NO!
Kayode thank you for your comment. It is such a shame we cannot let our children have freedom that we had. We do live in fear to some extent and worry about letting our children out of our sight. We can take measures to make them as safe as possible though.