I can't believe that these Irish immigrants called the Scots in Glasgow worry aboot obesity...I thought they flung 20-stone hammers and telephone poles all the time...

I guess this proud race has been 'domesticated' as well?

Maybe it's time for another Scottish spring?

EDIT:  my elementary school had a High Structure that was very much like this, with firepoles in both towers and a kind of suspension bridge between the two.  Long after I left the school, I noticed that they built up the sand around it so it wasn't so high and then they eventually tore it down.

We'd play sports like soccer on gravel fields (there were grass fields as well) and we'd even play in the pea-soup thick fog.

I remember really liking running after swallows as they flew very low along the grass, thinking that only if I tried hard enough, I'd catch up to them.

This article was written about Glasgow, but it could just as easily have been written about the city I live in. I work in an after-school setting where we purposely schedule in unscripted outside play time. We take them out to our playground and let them play freely. Sadly we can't let them climb trees due to licensing regulations, but we have plenty of equipment to climb on and swing from. Sure occasionally they get bumps and scrapes, but I've never seen anything worse than that. Ironically, it's the other, "safer," playgrounds around town where I have seen the more serious injuries (broken bones).

I wonder where the right balance between a child's need to explore and a child's safety is?

I shudder a bit at the School Bus policy of all traffic stopping when the bus stops; then a child or children often hurtle across the road without looking either way. I wonder what habits that puts in place but I guess most of you have adapted and survived traffic flows.

Then there's the common practice of driving kids to school and picking them up. How do they learn to relate to a neighbourhood that way? To their community? Is walking REALLY that unsafe? 

Hmmm. I climbed a tree once that I can recall. Can't remember how old I was, maybe 12. My mom had allways been afraid of letting me, but this time I outsmarted her and boy! It was fun! I found my limbs were very effective at hauling the rest of me up these previously impossible heights, and there were branches just where I needed them. An awesome experience every kid should have.

I also remember learning to fly off the staircase, one more stair at a time, when mom wasn't looking. Oh I was going to tell her, once I got to the top of the staircase! And gave the poor woman the fright of her life. SHe thought I was going to break my neck of course. Yeah it hurt my feet a bit more with the gaining height, but I did jump the entire staircase, some 11 steps. It rather jarred my back a bit too. But you gotta do to learn! Else you end up timid.

I kind of agree with the article... I'd for sure have my kid walk to school, except his school is over 10 k away. Times are different, though I would like to see some of those old time things return.

I wonder if all that obesity though is caused by not playing and walking outside... It could be a combination of things. Cause kids who do walk and play outside still remain heavy, and grow up to be overweight. But I too have noticed how kids and teens used to be skinny in the past for the most part, and now not so much. I recon it has something to do with food marketers, putting a lot of fat and sugar in the foods, and parents buying it. Some of the things kids bring to school for a snack floors me. We're generationally conditioned perhaps.

I agree - it seems to me to be a combination of diet and lack of exercise. Where I work, on the days that the kids are with us for the full day, we have them eat a mid-morning snack from their lunches. The stipulation is that it must be something healthy. Sometimes there is literally nothing in their lunch that is truly healthy. I've actually seen kids come with Cheez Whiz sandwiches, chocolate covered granola bars, cookies, a bag of chips, candy and kool aid or a can of pop to drink. In a circumstance like that, we'll often supplement it with something healthy that we have on hand and talk to the parents when they come to pick the child up.

Free time - free space.   This old granny doesn't think the kids need more playgrounds and play equipment.  They need more open space - a big field with maybe a backstop in one corner where they can draw out a ball diamond for themselves - a lot of trees, some with low branches for climbing, some rope swings, and lots of pathways and trails and nooks and turns.  Places where they can ride bikes without having a course laid out - let them build their own - maybe a big pile of sand somewhere - and some odds and ends of lumber to put together a fort or tree house.   And lots of walkways so that they can travel from one neighbourhood to another.  A brook to follow up to its source or down to its mouth would be a dream.   And a few cul-de-sac streets where road hockey can be played in summer.   And maybe part of that big open field could be flooded for skating.   

What am I talking about???   Who would watch our children every moment of their lives?    How would we keep them safe from predators?   or a dog on the loose?    Won't they get lost if they're permitted (no encouraged) to wander all over the place?  

Hey, teach your kids what (or who) to look out for.  Encourage them to travel in packs.  Let them learn to look out for each other - and give older kids a general responsibility for keeping an eye on the younger ones.   Let them develop their survival skills - they have them.  Kids sense when things are not right - when they are getting too far from home base - when things go quiet around them. 

And adults might be encouraged to use these open spaces as well - taking a short cut to the strip mall, walking over to a friend's house, walking the dog, pushing a stroller, riding a bike, jogging.  The probability that there is apt to be an adult in the vicinity can do a lot towards keeping the kids safe.

Yes, there is danger, but I don't think there is any more danger today then there always was.  Just perhaps we are more aware of it.  And perhaps modern kids are less in tune to it and able to deal with it.

My own (ancient) experience was heading from school to the beach where we hung out till dinner-time (or the time mum or dad said we had to be home). We swam, we ate shellfish (raw) if we needed a snack (there were no shops nearby), we play-fought and ran and explored and occasionally an arm was broken or a scrape would let some blood.  But nobody drowned, nobody was abducted, nobody was permanently maimed or disfigured, we looked after each other and we learned a lot about confidence and responsibility.

That's impossible now because the beaches I knew (in what's now a far-off country) have been "developed", the water and the shellfish are polluted and kids don't have the freedom or the sanctions. If we bullied, an adult was likely to appear and wallop the bully; if someone was hurt and we didn't help, we'd be in trouble... so, although we were ostensibly alone, some limits were pretty clearly drawn when we were in the community's view. (I have a clear, funny recollection of being raucously cheeky one moment and suddenly, deftly and unexpectedly lifted by the collar from my bike and drop-kicked into a hedge by the much-liked local policeman and told to apologise. I did!)

I think some of us may be getting old.

As a child in Elementary school my friends and I ran 'wild' all over the neighborhood and far beyond.  We took day long bike rides to play in the woods (5 miles and more each way).  We walked to the next town to look at the stores.  We investigated every park and open space we could find. We climbed, roller skated, flew kites, hung from fences, played noisy, unsupervised games of War.  My children had similar experiences.  My grandkids - not so much - the kids in my neighborhood even less.  There is something horribly wrong when I see a parent from three blocks away drive up to the playground, unload the kids, watch them stand around for a few minutes only to load them up and leave! 

Like most things it comes down to balance.

Perhaps it's got something to do with parents tending to be older and better educated than in the past?

They have less kids and fuss over them more.

Kids in the past were a part of the family - not the focus.

Then, through necessity, older kids were given a measure of responsibility to supervise younger siblings in playgrounds and parks. This gave all the kids more scope to develop through learning.....

Parents today focus so much on safety and protecting their kids - that they, unwittingly, fall down on their parental responsibility of developing their kid's own ability to learn how to protect themselves in a graded fashion.

The sad reality of this is that the parent is protecting themselves against their own anxiety -often as the expense of the child's best long-term interests.

How can kids grow up to trust themselves and others, when their parents don't know how to trust in a balanced way?

Seeler, Excellent post.

Mike: You ate raw shellfish?! Ewww! The rest of it sounds great.

Pilgrim: Exactly. A balance.

In earlier times also, families had lots more kids and expected they may not all survive to grow up, and now each one we expect to live, and we protect the heck out of 'em.

I remember some great times in the forest as a kid, forging ways through imaginary worlds, following the creek, I built forts in the backyard, and went off on moth hunting expeditions... which turned out to be rather cruel, one of those situations where you need parental guidance. "It's not nice to pull the wings off them."

I still prefer raw shellfish if they've come from clean water... I was in my 20s before I discovered some people actually cook them. Now the near universal issue is clean water.

Sometimes when we have the kids at a church sleepover, we'll walk to the park across the street and let the kids climb the trees there. The kids love it - it's a freedom some of them don't have at home and the branches are at a perfect level so as not to be too scary for those who are uncomfortable (this also makes it easy to rescue the kid who goes too far and gets frozen with fear).

SOunds like fun Somegal!

Mike, Still Ewww! But then, I don;t like muscles or oysters or clams cooked either. Reminds me of the scene from Mr Bean's Holiday where he's in the French restaurant and he gets the "Fruits de la Mer" platter, and quivers like you've never seen before upon swallowing the raw, wriggling, still breathing, slimey, wet, shiney oyster! He then proceeds to dump the rest into the purse of the lady next to him...

Yesterday my daughter dropped in with better than an hour to kill.   She was on her way to the playground with her son and his friend - both 7 year old boys.  She left them in my yard while she popped in.  

I have two huge maple trees on my front yard - and a husband who hasn't gotten around to raking yet.   When we went out to call them to go to the playground they were so busy they didn't even see or hear us.  They were gathering huge armloads of leaves and tossing them in the air.  They were rolling down the slope crushing the leaves under them.  They were burying themselves and each other in leaves and then popping up.   No need to stand around a cold playground watching two capable boys climb on plastic structures when nature had provided the perfect play space in my yard.  We went back in, poured ourselves a cup of coffee and watched their antics.  Too bad she had neglected to bring along the dog who would have enjoyed the play as well.  

A few trees, a less-than-perfectly groomed lawn, a slope from one level to the other - a perfect play space.  And not a toy in sight. 

Amen!!  I am pretty lenient with my kids, but they are in a pile of friends with very careful parents.  Plus, let's not forget that liability issues and Insurance companies are damaging opportunities.  Schools can't have a child get hurt on their bounds.  Churches can't either, if you ask them.  A big fear is having someone else's child get hurt on your property.   The insurance companies are not to be trifled with.

However, my favourite is Mike & Seeler's suggestion - just big open space to wander about it and explore.  I took my kids to a pond once, and plunked myself down on a log with a book.  The kids looked totally bewildered and it took them awhile to find out that sticks FLOAT!!!  Look mom!  look!  and the pinecones too, but not the rocks.  It took about 5 min before they knew how to explore, and then poof- they were happy exploring for an hour until I was ready to go. 

What a good idea for a church to try - not sure about the insurance though- just setting up in park, and offering snacks, bandaids and some supervision, maybe a story,  and some glue for their nature finds.  I think a table with support & resources for worried parents too would be good. 

I just want to remind folk that tree climbing is not a safe activity. My son fell out of a tree when the branch broke and he broke his neck. Fortunately, it healed.

Of course there is risk in climbing a tree.  It takes practice and judgment and coordination.  It takes the ability to judge the strength of the tree, and your own abilities.  And even then accidents happen.

But they also happen in playgrounds and in our homes.  A neighbour's child fell off the platform at the top of the slide on my granddaughters play set - bought at Canadian Tire for several hundred dollars, carefully constructed according to the directions by a loving grandfather, but no guarantee that no one could get hurt.  Fortunately in this case he was not injured - scared and bruised and crying but nothing broken - and his mother was there.  She had seen him climbing up with his sister and my granddaughter; she had seen him fall.  No one - not the child himself or the other children, nor me, nor the equipment was blamed.  

I think this is part of them problem. Adults aren't around as often. As someone said they're more likely to hope in their car and drive over instead of walking to chances are becoming slimmer and slimmer that an adult will be around.

It's a different world, that's for sure. When my son was small, we lived in a true community where all the neighbours felt responsible for one anothers kids. Nothing formal, it was just that way. There was freedom for the kids to roam and wander and lots of opportunities to interact with kids of all ages.

There has always been danger and that will never change. As has been mentioned, risks/rewards is the balance.

There was much more danger when I was growing up, but luckily we survived it and learned a great deal. My reverence for nature was developed by endless hours spent (often alone) in forest, field and stream. I was able to be curious and be away from home for several hours at a time without anyone getting too worried. As long as I was home for supper. Sure there were some scary situations but I believe it helped me to problem-solve more effectively.

I feel sorry for kids now whose days are regimented with little time for unplanned and "unstructured" play. Of necessity, we've lost something valuable IMO.

Great post Ninj! And so nice to see you back! I guess you checked in in the part of the re-union thread I wasn't able to view. Welcome, welcome!

W-Five did a recent piece on free play. It presented all the benefits of children interacting with each other, including both physical and psychological health. They learn respect, fair play, compromise, standing up for themselves or for others unjustly treated, etc.

Every time my grandsons step on a soccer field or ice rink they are in full uniform, every piece of equipment available, with a fully marked play field, and refs to keep the rules and coaches to tell them (yell at them) so they know what to do and point out their mistakes after.

I favour free and spontaneous play. Let the adults find another way to occupy their time and fulfill their long lost dreams of being superstars!

PaleFox, this is the first time I have noticed you posting yet when I checked your profile I find you have been on this site since the beginning.   Should I take it that you are one of the strong silent types.

Your post made me think of my son and his friends.  They were all in organized hockey for a year or more of their young lives.  My son played for several years.   But what they seemed to enjoy more was taking their old beat up sticks and an orange ball down to the cul-de-sac on the next block and setting up their own game of road hockey.  They choose the teams, they divided the players (whoever showed up each day) into two teams, they made the rules.  They provided the nets, patched and bent and carried from the nearest back yard.  If they didn't have nets they improvised.  They watched out for each other, yelled 'Car', and moved the nets on the rare occasion someone drove down that dead-end during a game.   They had fun.  They played for years.   And when they scattered for college, or jobs, and came home during Christmas break they got together again.

And that's what my son remembers as he looks back from the other side of the world, a middle-aged professor.   Many of his friends have teenage sons now - I wonder if they play road-hockey.