Kitchen Monkey

04 April 2008

Are we guilty of taking away our children’s childhood?

Catching up on the newspapers this week I was reading an article about children and their social skill development through play. Some of the figures really make you think.

Basically what they are saying is that, our children today are not playing out alone thus they are not developing through independent play, as we would of done in our childhood’s.

Having a large gap between my own children, I know there is a difference from my own experience. For instance what one of my children was allowed to do, to what the other’s were allowed to do. Although, I was not aware of this at the time, how quite different they were. Perhaps today we are now more aware of the dangers that are out there for our children. It is sad to think that we have fears to the extent that, even some of our teenage children are still being escorted to school today. A top child psychologist reporting on GMTV stated that “as adults we place our fears into our children’s childhood and create adult constraints”, perhaps she is right?

For instance ¼ of 8 to 10 year olds do not play out and 1 in 4, 10 year olds have NEVER played outdoors unsupervised by an adult.

On the other side of the coin there has been a 75% decrease in children getting hurt in road accidents.

The government has actually stated that “they are developing play areas and repairing existing areas within communities to ensure safe areas for children to play in”. However, I was surprised to find out that a large quantity of school playing fields for example, have actually now been sold off. Limiting our children’s play and sport facilities for safe play within the actual school day. I am sure you remember as a child, that you would always be playing the furthest distance away from the main buildings, adventuring out. You could just about hear the school bell and dinner ladies shouting you back in, when we were all at the bottom of the schools playing fields playing, when I was at school.

Obviously as a parent, I too understand that parents are scared to let their children out. Were these fears always there? I know as a child I was never in. I would be up at the crack of dawn, eat breakfast, make sandwiches and be off and my mother never saw me again until dusk. I always knew I had to be home by dusk and I never questioned it either. I was always back home by dusk and usually very hungry.
My friends and I would play in fields, brooks and cycle for miles we would literally take our lunch and go off exploring. I am also aware that perhaps my youngest child has not had this luxury at all, and this has mainly been down to my own fears for his safety.

The child psychologists say exactly this, that “parents, carers and adults are scared to let their children out”. They further stated that “supervised play, even though we are watching, we still manage to impose adult rules on their play, even while watching from a distance”. It is with this in mind that the psychologists are saying that “children need freedom to play alone to develop fully”.

An astonishing 3.5 children sit at home isolated, usually at a computer screen or TV and this starts from a very early age with some toddlers now having TV etcs in their bedrooms. It is this isolation and the fact they are not allowed to adventure in unsupervised play which means our children are losing their communication skills according to top psychologists. They state that “children need to develop independence and life skills through independent play and that life for children is all about having a childhood again and not the constraints that modern parents are imposing on our children”.

Interesting subject, let me know what your thoughts are, send me a comment I look forward to hearing from you all as usual.

Good luck with your Grand National flutters if you are giving one tomorrow!