Play such as jumping from a height or letting a child fetch lost contributes to self-esteem and can reduce the risks they lift as adolescents – and avoids a sedentary lifestyle,which can lead to obesity and chronic disease“You’ll lift your eye out with that” is our family motto. I’m the hovering mum by the five-year-aged on the monkey bars in the park. So how embarrassing to see research and a position statement on active outdoor play in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. It says children need “risky play” (which includes climbing and jumping from a height, unsupervised play where a child could fetch lost, and cycling fast down a hill,playing with knives, or playing near water or cliffs). It adds that children who do so improve their reaction time in detecting risk, or increase their self-esteem and are less likely to takes risks related to sex and drugs as adolescents.
An English study found that,while 86% of children between the ages of seven and 11 went to school without an adult in the 1970s, this fell to 25% in2010.
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Source: theguardian.com