UK

Government's advice to parents: make sure your child plays conkers

It is the stuff of every grown-up's nostalgic reminiscences of childhood: epic conker showdowns, playground snowball fights and long hours playing outside, away from the watchful eyes of mum and dad. Now ministers are calling on risk-averse parents to stop "wrapping their children in cotton wool" and allow them to enjoy the delights of outdoor play and traditional rough-and-tumble fun. In his first venture into the heated debate over the way children grow up in Britain since taking on his new role, Ed Balls, the secretary of state for children, said childhood should be a "time for learning and exploring" and children should get the chance to play outdoors and take part in school trips.

"My assumption is, that if it snows, kids go out and build snowmen and have snowball fights, that in October kids go out and play conkers, that they play marbles."

Schools should not be cowed by a compensation culture into banning traditional games, Mr Balls made clear, ahead of the publication today of a consultation document on keeping children safe while encouraging a more adventurous approach.

A minority of schools have banned conkers and snowball-throwing amid concerns that injuries could expose schools to the threat of legal action. The bans have become a touchstone in some quarters for wider fears that children are being straitjacketed by over-protectiveness and an over-zealous approach to health and safety. While local authorities fear the rise of compensation culture, most parents, too, are gripped by caution; three quarters feel their children are at greater risk when playing outdoors than they were five years ago.

Mr Balls echoed the views recently expressed by groups such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents that learning to deal with risk is part of growing up. "We rightly have high expectations for our children," he said. "We want them to be protected from any sort of harm and abuse. But this does not mean that we should wrap our children in cotton wool. "Childhood is a time for learning and exploring. Through playing and doing positive activities, children and young people can learn to better understand the opportunities and challenges in the world around them, and how to be safe."

The government campaign will encourage parents to let children play outside "in safe environments" and take part in other "positive activities". According to statistics quoted in the paper, Staying Safe, more than one third of children never play outside and nearly two thirds of parents are worried about letting their children do so. Parents should be able to "strike the right balance between protecting their children and at the same time allowing them to learn and explore safely", said Mr Balls, a father of three young children.

In some cases, he suggested, parents expressed fears based on risks present when they were children. To some extent these risks have lessened, he said, and some parents were unaware of the extent of the new threats.

Since the 1990s, according to government figures, deaths or serious injuries caused by road accidents have reduced by over half, and the UK has the second lowest number of children killed by accidents or injuries among countries in the OECD - the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Nevertheless concern over traffic is a key reason for the reluctance of many to let children out unaccompanied; a recent survey by the Children's Society found most do not think their children should be out alone until their are at least 14, even though they themselves were given independence at a younger age.

Meanwhile the internet presents children with a risk underestimated by many parents, Mr Balls said. One survey found that while only 5% of parents thought their children gave out personal information online, 46% of children said they did so. Asked whether they thought their children had come into contact with pornography on the net, 16% of parents said yes, compared with the 57% of youngsters admitting it.

The government is also keen to highlight the fact that some risks vary sharply according to social background. The children of parents who have never worked or are long-term unemployed are 13 times more likely to die from unintentional injury and 37 times more likely to die from the effects of fire than are children of professional parents.

Sure Start and other channels will be used to improve the targeting of safety information, Mr Balls said.

What the experts say
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology, University of Kent "I think even the most risk-averse policymaker realises that things have gone so far that it borders on ludicrous. A lot of politicians have realised that the fear of litigation is being used in schools to compromise all kinds of activities, sometimes because the head wants to cut things and will use fear of compensation as an excuse. "Anything that raises the issues is good and positive, but I have reservations. There is a danger that play is turned into a subject matter rather than something to explore in an unregulated way that kids do without being told to. There is a risk it is seen as a vehicle for achieving certain policy outcomes like reducing obesity rather than being worthwhile in its own right."

David Yearley, head of play at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents "Accidents really are part of children's play. It is through accidents they learn about what they are doing or not doing. To be able to have an accident is quite important. If we wrap them in cotton wool, we are never going to let them have an accident through their exposure to risk which forms part of play. There is a sense some play environments are getting a bit sanitised, you are getting rid of plants, trees, so you are just getting a fenced-in area with a bit of play equipment thrown in. Of course, we don't want exposure to risks where children are likely to die or be permanently injured."

Rob Wheway, leading UK play adviser "I am glad there is a debate, but you can't blame parents for not letting kids play outside. It is the car that has stopped children playing out - not that parents are more risk-averse, but that the streets are more and more dangerous. The policy has been to keep children out of the way of the car rather than in the streets where they always have played.Far from being overprotective of their children, parents say playgrounds are too boring and unchallenging. I always see parents pushing their children higher on the swings or faster on the roundabout than I ever did with my children."

Eileen Hayes, NSPCC parenting adviser "Taking part in leisure activities is great for children's development. It encourages them to be sociable, helps them make friends and is part of growing up. We want as many children as possible to get involved in kids' clubs and community groups and generally just to go out and play. Many adults generously give their time to run community activities and the majority of children enjoy these in safety, but it is also important that parents know that their children are safe and that groups and organisations have vetting and child protection procedures in place."

James Meikle and Lucy Ward
18 July 2007

http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,,2128884,00.html

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