Urban parents want their children to be able to play in the street, as they did themselves when they were young, but increasingly they're being forced to keep their children indoors because of complaints from neighbours and local councils and because of heavy traffic.
Neighbours are objecting to balls landing in their gardens or hitting their cars, and councils are saying that the children are causing a nuisance, obstructing the highway and making people feel "unsafe" in their homes.
When I was young I didn't play in the street myself but plenty of other kids did and I don't recall any complaints from anyone. In those days people were more tolerant and didn't see any problem with boisterous children.
Allowing children to play in the street gives them a lot more freedom than if they're stuck indoors and constantly watched by their parents. It's a shame that the practice is dying out.
Increasing traffic doesn't help either, as it makes roads more dangerous and chokes them with parked cars that might get damaged. In many residential areas there's a 20 mph limit but drivers don't always stick to it.
Emma Wreyford in Bristol has an 11 year old daughter. "It should be such a lovely age for that sort of outdoor play but it's almost impossible. Here the car is king and public space is there for the rights of drivers to store their cars."
I don't see any obvious answer to the problem. Cars aren't going to conveniently disappear and intolerant neighbours are unlikely to suddenly be more tolerant. A lot of children are being deprived of a sense of freedom our generation took for granted.
I’m assuming this is in regards to city living as opposed to more rural surroundings? I would always guess playing in the street is unsafe, but without a yard, I suppose there’s not much choice.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Good point. I've changed "parents" to "urban parents" to clarify things. And yes, I think most people have yards or gardens as an alternative to playing in the street.
DeleteWe played on a building site and created havoc
ReplyDeleteJohn: I never played on a building site. My parents would have warned me off them as very dangerous.
ReplyDeleteMy older daughter and her husband raised two children in the city and taught them the freedom of intelligent independence. They were taught how to ride bicycles with traffic, as I taught her. I have a favorite story of my grandson, riding his bike on the sidewalk in Little Italy, which was too dangerous to use the street. An old Italian woman, out sweeping her stoop, accosted him: "Who told you to ride on the sidewalk?" "My mother," he responded, and sped off.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: Nice reply! I wouldn't ride a bike these days, because of the absence of dedicated cycle tracks. I don't fancy cycling on main roads and competing with double-decker buses and juggernauts.
DeleteAs a kid, our city street was only two blocks long and din't really lead anywhere so we played there and in the weed lot next door. That weed lot now has three houses in it. And gravel driveways are now paved and kids play there. Everything changes and, somehow, we adapt.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: Increasing traffic is the big deterrent to playing in the street. Cars thundering past and not paying proper attention to pedestrians, including children.
DeleteI grew up semi-rural, and yes, played in the street - but we mostly played in each others back gardens. We used our bikes on the pavement, but games in the garden.
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Ms Scarlet: I used to ride my scooter all round the neighbourhood pavements and nobody ever objected. People are less tolerant these days.
DeleteWe played in each other's gardens...my parents would have been horrified had we played in the street....but we would whizz round the pavements on our scooters as you did, and adults seemed to take that in their stride. We had so much more freedom...as long as my parents knew whom I was with we could go off for the day, walking or taking bus rides without parental hysterics. There was safety in numbers, it was felt and we were enjoined to stay together, but that was it in terms of precautions.
ReplyDeleteFly: Letting you go off for the day as long as there was a group of you was admirable. The only time I went off for the day (or rather week) was at scout camp.
Deletethecontemplativecat here. We lived on a farm where I grew up. There were so many things we did, and shouldn't have done. But it set me on a life of discovery. our children from the 80s had adventures on our cul-de-sac, and played in our yard. Different now, for sure.
ReplyDeleteContemplativecat: Growing up on a farm must have given you a great sense of freedom. Jenny grew up close to a farm and she often ventured onto the farmland.
DeleteMary says: "I remember leaving home in the morning and not coming home until dinner time. We didn't play in the street, we had more sense than that but we did play at the park or in friends yards. Things were different back then. Now a days you have to look out for more than just traffic. Kids get kidnapped, bullied and fights break out between some kids. Most kids have electronics and don't want to go outside and play for the most part anyway."
ReplyDeleteMary: That makes playing outside sound really dangerous! And you haven't mentioned mobile phone thefts, which are very common.
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