A recent report points out that children in the UK are losing the freedom to play outside independently. What needs to happen to change this situation?
It’s a warm afternoon. Children run out of their homes, gather in the streets, scribble with chalk on the ground and race on their bikes. Their parents watch them carefully, chatting about their days while eating freshly baked biscuits.
This is an ideal life: children don’t need to watch out for cars rushing onto the street, and parents don’t need to worry about their children when they play outside.
“Recently children have been spending most of their free time indoors,” said Ingrid Skeels, the Co-Director of Playing Out. “They are unable to play with friends and get very little exercise. Parents are afraid to let their children have any freedom or independence because they are afraid of all the risks outside.”
To change the current situation, Ingrid offers a solution. She says, “We need to help create safe spaces for children to play close to home by calming and reducing traffic on residential streets, acknowledging that they share and have a right to use public space, designing and building better places for children to live where they can access this, and raising awareness among public health bodies, parents, drivers and everyone that playing out for children is so important.”
Over 10 years ago, when a group of parents tried to find ways for their children to play out, they came up with the idea of applying to close the road and have a street party after school, to let the children have safe playing spaces. These parents set up the organization, Playing Out, aiming to spread the idea about streets play as much as possible.
Data shows that there were 39 child deaths because of traffic accidents in 2019, which decreased from 48 in 2018. But these horrific figures are enough to make parents anxious.
In addition to a potential traffic hazard, the fewer safe places for children to play is also a problem.
“Many of those rough patches of public space close to residential homes have been sold off to private developers,” explains Ingrid. “And even if there are good parks and playgrounds, which is not the case for many areas, children have to be able to get to them.”
Toni, a mother who lives in Cardiff, told Playing Out that they live on a street that has residential housing on both sides and six families with young children, but they never play outside.
“That’s why parents feel less confident in that sense to let their children out,” says Ingrid. “And, of course, with no other children out, it becomes less likely you feel OK to let yours out – it is a vicious circle.”
However, the freedom to play outside is a children’s right, because it benefits both their mental and physical health. Research shows that through playing, children can build their bones and muscles, increasing self-esteem, and reducing the risks of childhood obesity and anxiety.
“For children who grew up in the 1980s or earlier, playing outside with friends was a natural, normal part of everyday life,” explains Ingrid. “We played on streets and little patches of land close to home almost every day after school, with children of all ages and backgrounds, and at weekends and through the holidays.
“It was not a special activity, it was just part of life. And it gave us so much! Daily physical activity like running, jumping, skipping. We learn how to ride a bike, do handstands. Learning how to socialise, making friends, falling out and making up again… It gave us a huge amount of enjoyment and fun.”
But for children in this generation, the activities above have become “luxuries”. Encouraging and giving more opportunities for children to play freely, should be a common goal of the public health bodies, society and parents to aim for.
With the help of Playing Out, over 1000 street communities have now played out regularly together, with tens of thousands of children (and adults) benefiting, and over 80 local authorities have put a supportive policy in place.
“We have to find ways to make play out freely possible again for children, to create safe space so they can play freely with others. It is for us, the adults who remember how it was to try to change this,” said Ingrid.