Play time restricted for today’s children

CHILDREN are being denied the chance to take part in adventurous play by over–cautious parents, a new survey has warned.

The poll by Play England found that 50 per cent of seven to 12 years olds were not allowed to climb a tree without adult supervision while 17 per cent were not allowed to play tag.

Reporter Karen Doherty asked shoppers in Chadderton if they let their children and grandchildren get into adventurous scrapes — or indeed if they are wary about letting them play out at all.


VINCENT and Helen Cannon, of Firswood Park, were out with 10-year-old grandson Bradley and said a careful eye was kept on their grandchildren.

Helen (74) explained: “It’s a violent world. You see it every day on the TV.

“The grandchildren have got certain places they can’t go and they have a mobile phone as well. They live in Middleton and there’s a big field they play football on. If they move from that field they have to say.”

Vincent (82) admitted it was a big change from when he was young, adding: “We were allowed to wander and roam and stuff like that. Now the parents need to know where the youngsters are all the time. They miss out a bit.”

Helen McGuinn, from Chadderton, thinks she will worry about her seven-month-old daughter playing out when she gets older.

“She would probably need to be somewhere I could see here, certainly until she was old enough to know not to speak to anybody,” said the 28-year-old.

“It wasn’t a problem at all when I was young. You did not tend to worry about it at all.”

But Peter Murray, from Chadderton, is determined not to cosset his 15-month-old twin boys, Hector and Tobey.

There is no question of not letting them climb trees and the 43-year-old explained: “I think boys have got to be boys. They need plenty of fresh air.”

Shirley Johnson (46), from North Chadderton, has two sons aged 15 and 18 and the youngest spends a lot of time in the house.

“I am always telling him to go out. There is nowhere for them to go: they can’t go to the park now because there is always a risk of gangs and they can’t go on school playing fields because the caretaker chases them off,” she explained.

Maria Fox (30), from Royton, lets her seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son play outside, but admitted: “I worry constantly about them. I have got a good view of the street and when I can’t see them I worry. If they go in somebody’s house they have to tell me — but they do not always keep to that!

“There is a shop round the corner and at first I was a bit worried about letting my daughter go there, but she goes with a friend.

“My son is very accident prone but I try not to stop him doing things too much, if I did he would be running about the house. He needs that kind of release for his energy.”

Janet Lawton (40), from Chadderton, has three sons and a grandchild and said: “Children are not allowed to play as we used to play as children. I think the problem is they are perhaps perceived as being naughty. They get a really hard time.”

She gave the example of children being told off for playing football and added: “I think it affects their development, it really holds them back. They are kept in too much — too many video games, too much TV.”