Member News
By Michael Courtney - 29th October 2009
The all-party parliamentary group on play considered whether children's lives are over-structured at a meeting this week.
The APPG addressed this idea in an attempt to paint a picture of how local authorities can encourage children to play.
Dr Ute Navidi of London Play said:
"In some cases, the lives of middle class kids today may be compared to that of inmates."
A phenomenon known as "helicopter parenting" may result in over-zealous parents "ushering their children from piano lessons to drama class to football, then home for tea and bed without allowing the child to let off steam".
While children should be encouraged to take part in extra-curricular activities, such classes may not stimulate the fantasy or imagination that comes naturally during play.
Councillor Shireen Ritchie of the Local Government Association's children and young people board told the group:
"We must accept children's play as normal. It is a required part of childhood which no child should be deprived of."
Dr Navidi added:
"Children require time, space and props to pretend and develop important cognitive skills such as problem-solving".
A recent article in London Play News discussed how children are natural storytellers at play, with an extraordinary ability to build plots, themes and characters.
Both Councillor Ritchie and Dr Navidi addressed how local authorities must incorporate children's play into development strategies.
"It can be a way to reach activity targets, like the PSA goal to halt the year-on-year increase in obesity in children by 2011."
Ritchie added: "Children in rural areas may be too far away from play areas, while children in urban areas may be constrained by factors such as traffic, noise or too little green space. Parents' concerns of bullying, traffic and ‘stranger danger’ must also be addressed."
A combination of local planning and educating children about such issues would be of great help in this area, she added.
The group considered if London's environment is fit for children to play in – a recent poll showed that 50 per cent of children don't play outside, but 86 per cent want to.
An initiative called 'Natural Play' introduces features such as trees and sand boxes to play areas and has been welcomed in London's boroughs. This scheme even went mobile for Playday in August.
Attempting to define play, Dr Navidi used a quotation from a three year-old:
"It's what happens when everyone else has stopped telling me what to do."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd