How can we get our children playing outside again?

British children spend half the time their parents did playing in the street. But some campaigners are fighting back against a culture that is keeping kids from exercising their right to play

It is easy to get nostalgic when someone mentions playing outside: hazy memories of summers spent kicking a ball in the street, calling for your friend across the road to join you, the illicit thrill of knock-and-run.

But nostalgia may soon be all we have: it’s an incontrovertible fact that British children occupy an ever-shrinking slice of public space, and their time playing out in our streets has been slashed. A 2016 Sustrans study showed that children are playing outside for an average of just over four hours a week – half that of their parents’ generation. And most of this play happens in parks, with adults hovering nearby.

Political pressure has ousted play from children’s lives, at a huge cost. That cost will be seen when they are older

It’s about kids knowing their neighbours, knowing they could knock on anyone’s door if they were in trouble

Kids on the street are seen as a threat to adults, rather than being ‘our’ children, the children of the whole community

Related: What would the ultimate child-friendly city look like?

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from Children | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2LUeTF9