Analysis: The need for community play
Children ought to be seen and heard playing in public places, an expert study urges. Play sector figures talk to Mary Evans about the implications for society.
Public spaces in Britain are increasingly being built for the convenience of the car and the shopping trip at the expense of children, who are being excluded from their communities and deprived of valuable play opportunities, according to a new report by the think-tank Demos, Seen and Heard: Reclaiming the public realm with children and young people.
The study, commissioned by Play England, warns that children are losing the freedom to roam and play independently. It urges the Government to rethink town planning to prevent children from being segregated out of public areas.
'There is no central Government strategy on play,' says Becky McLauchlan, campaigns manager of Play England. 'There has been no money, motivation or funding to increase children's play opportunities. We now have Big Lottery Funding going out to the regions, but that should be seen as a starting point. Central Government needs to do more.
'At the launch of the Demos report, children's minister Beverley Hughes indicated that there would be things in the Children's Plan that will address the issues that Demos has highlighted. That is really hopeful and the strongest indication so far that play is being taken seriously.'
The fundamental importance of play was emphasised by Adrian Voce, director of Play England, when he introduced the pamphlet. 'For children, the opportunity to play is their equivalent to our (adults') freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom of expression.
'Without regular time, space and permission to play, children are denied the right to be themselves, to follow their own unique agenda. The consequences for their quality of life, health and development - and by extension, their future life chances too - are serious.'
Celia Hannon, co-author of the Demos study, adds, 'We are seeing the consequences of the lack of play opportunities in the child obesity crisis. Research shows that unstructured play is one of the best ways to say healthy and fit.'
Public agenda
Play has been pushed further up the public agenda with the publication by Play England of a revised version of its charter, 'Refreshing the Charter for Children's Play', which will be followed in the New Year with the publication of an implementation guide.
'It is heartening that this issue is now being raised and debated,' says Bernadette Duffy, head of the Thomas Coram Children's Centre in London. 'A few years ago, children's play didn't seem to feature. If you can nurture play in childhood and take it with you into later life, it may well be the saving of you.'
Pointing to the reports showing high levels of anxiety and alcohol and drug abuse among adolescents, she adds, 'You have to wonder whether, if we allowed them to play more and valued their play more, they would need to find these releases.'
This idea is taken further by Tim Gill, former director of Play England, whose recently published book No Fear: Growing up in a risk-averse society argues that it is natural and healthy for children to take risks, make mistakes and test boundaries. He says, 'If we always take the view that children can't take responsibility and can't make sense of the world themselves, and in doing so we close down childhood and make it harder for children to have these sorts of everyday adventures and learning experiences, then it will be no surprise if children, as they grow up and become teenagers, don't have a very good grasp of how to get along with people, or a sense of the consequences of their actions but feel disconnected and disengaged from the wider world.'
Community impact
Without change, 'children will be reduced to staying in their homes, with limited, if any outdoor play space,' says Diane Rich, of Rich Learning Opportunities and a trustee of London Play. 'They will resort to indoor solitary, sedentary activities - TV and computer games.
'Communities will not be dominated by happy, active, playing children who feel valued and have a sense of belonging. Instead, children will be led by adults, unable to make decisions and afraid to be out in their own locality. Community play will become a thing of the past. Beyond their nurseries and schools, children will only mix with their fellow 'clubbers' at swimming club and the like. Their need for spontaneous play, flexibility and hunger for outdoor space will not be met.
'Teenagers and young adults will not have developed the skills to integrate on the streets and there will be an increase in youths involved in street violence. Children will become increasingly less valued by society, and less prominent in society.'
Ms Rich describes the kind of community members such 'devalued' children are likely to become:
- having low respect for community resources
- disengaged from the consequences of their actions
- intolerant of the needs of others
- lacking social skills and the ability to work with/live with/tolerate others
- unable to make appropriate judgements and appropriate action.
Anne Longfield, chief executive of the out-of-school charity 4Children, says, 'We have to stop sectioning children away within the community. Planners need to carry out child impact assessments on any new developments, and that involves talking to and listening to children.'
Adult interpretation
But even when children are surveyed, adults may put their own gloss on the findings. 'Two of the most important things in children's lives are playing and friends,' says Wendy Russell, senior lecturer in playwork at Gloucestershire University. 'In all the surveys for Every Child Matters they came out top, but when it was published, playing and friends became "enjoying and achieving", which has become school and education.
'People have romantic memories of how they used to play. They laugh indulgently as they recall playing on the railway embankment or canal side. But if they come across young people doing the same today, they express moral outrage.
'Adults do not remember what it feels like to play. We read "rough and tumble" as being aggressive, when actually it is about social bonding.
'Play is not always nice. Children can be quite cruel in play. But research shows that experiencing moderate stress, where children feel they have some control over that stress, is beneficial. Yet we tend to remove the moderate stresses from the environment - but not the chronic stresses such as traffic, poverty, pollution and poor housing.'
'Unless young people are in structured activities or acting as mini-consumers, we assume that they are causing trouble,' says Celia Hannon at Demos. 'Our streets, squares and parks need to be accessible and enjoyable for all - otherwise existing anxiety about anti-social behaviour will get worse.'
Early years practitioners have a key role in reversing this trend, says Diane Rich. 'People in childcare - childminders, nurseries, pre-schools - need to make sure that play is visible and that they make use of play spaces in the community. This way the children can learn about the real world, and the community can see the children as players, as users of play space. If we can start with young children playing, the community can begin to value play.'
Seen and heard
The report Seen and Heard: Reclaiming the public realm with children and young people recommends:
- setting a 20mph speed limit in all residential areas
- creating iconic play spaces near important tourist destinations, central squares and high-profile developments to challenge expectations of where play can take place
- enhancing the role of young people in consultations on regeneration and public realm projects
- encouraging job swaps between the many different professionals working with children and open spaces
- enabling children to point the finger back, by setting up a hotline though which they could report the 'anti-social behaviour of adults towards their legitimate right to be and play outside'.
Find the full report at www.demos.co.uk/publications/seenandheardreport.
