Our children are 'street-stupid'
Expert calls on over-protective parents to ‘take off the bubblewrap’
IRISH parents are in danger of raising a "bubblewrap generation" of children who are "street-stupid", a conference has heard.
And children who do not have sufficient time for play can grow up to be aggressive and socially dysfunctional adults, an expert has warned.
Addressing the Irish Preschool Play Association (IPPA) conference in Dublin's Green Isle Hotel on Saturday, UK author Bob Hughes described children who do not get enough time to play as "battery children" and warned that their "incarceration" can lead to unhappiness, aggression, lack of concentration and an inability to make friends.
He added that the usual reasons given by parents for not allowing their kids out to play was a fear of predatory adults and traffic.
"Many parents are prohibiting their children from playing out because they will hurt themselves and the potential impact of this is a generation of children who are clumsy, unsocial, anxious and potentially street stupid," he added.
Mr Hughes argued that parents may be unwittingly adding to the risk of "play deprivation" by driving their children to school or by using television and computer games as a form of pacification. He also warned that some parents are signing their children up to too many after school activities that do not allow for "free play", where children can choose what they want to do for themselves.
Nearly 200 delegates heard that we are in danger of raising a "bubblewrap generation" because parents are being over-protective of their children. This in turn is reducing children's resilience and their ability to survive on their own.
Irene Gunning, chief executive of the IPPA, said: "We know that safety is the top obstacle that prevents children from taking part in play and parents are highly concerned about a lack of time and space for their children to play. The time to do something about it is now."
Delegates called for a campaign to promote more time for unstructured play for children that will engage parents, policy makers, politicians and practitioners at a national and community level.
Ms Gunning said children's supposedly free time outside of school is becoming increasingly regimented with everything from ballet and language classes to sports events.
Activities
"When children are involved in these type of activities, they are not choosing what they want to do and have no sense of control in shaping their activities.
"When they're creating and imagining their own play, that's when they're flexing the muscles of their mind," she explained.
She said that, despite parents' concerns, children should be encouraged to walk to school rather than be driven and should be playing outdoors every day. She also recommended that "TV time" should be reduced or eliminated altogether to allow children to use their imaginations.
"It's important to let children feel bored. These days if a child says to their mother 'I'm bored', she immediately feels she has to bring them somewhere or do something.''
"Years ago when a child got bored the responsibility lay with them to go and do something and be imaginative," said Ms Gunning.
- Breda Heffernan
