School holidays are in full swing here and Phil responded by saying "When I was young you'd see children playing in there, making cubby houses and just generally having fun". This brought to mind an article last week in our local paper "The Cockburn City Herald" and I quote:
"PLAY SCHOOLS IN" (by Steve Grant) As Principal of Baldivis primary school John worthy saw first-hand the transition of students from free-range country kids to caged city slickers. As high-density housing swallowed up the farmland and the urbanites moved in the local tradition of dropping kids off at the school gate and letting them run down the driveway came to an end. Instead there was a chaotic jam of parents trying to chauffeur them to the front door.
After school, kids once disappeared into a world of make-believe in bushland and paddocks till nightfall and hunger brought them home. They then started disappearing behind the telly instead. Mr Worthy noticed his charges becoming less socialised, increasingly aggressive and more likely to struggle in class.
It fired his interest in how children play, particularly in nature and the seed of his current thesis was planted.
Now based at Beaconsfield primary, the 32-year veteran of teaching is being given the opportunity to try some of his ideas on a grand scale, with the school about to create Fremantle's first large scale nature playground.
Two derelict houses have been demolished next to the school, making room for a playground that will link classrooms to the school oval. The houses' presence meant the kids used to go on an excursion simply to play footy 20 metres away.
Mr Worthy says the aim of the finished playground is to be a community facility. He has the enthusiastic backing of the P and C President who has two young sons at the school. She said (and this is the part that got me really thinking) "We have a tiny backyard, so it's a great opportunity for my kids to get outside to play and we'll be coming here on the weekends too.""
There was more about planning and how the local politicians and a local firm were becoming involved and that the Council will help in any way it can with the project. The firm CODA has already donated $20,000 of designs to help develop the playround and integrate it into the existing site and local MP's donated saplings (young trees) and trowels.
I remarked on the President of the P and C saying how tiny their backyard is with no room for children to play. In Perth these days there are some building blocks less than 400 square metres and for some reason there is this tendency to build huge double storey homes with barely enough room to walk around them. We have a quite big front garden here and a large back garden and all our grandchildren used to have fun climbing trees or just doing what kids do outdoors. They were also fortunate to have room in their own gardens to play.
These days children seem to spend much of their free time in front of the TV set or computer and most seem to have smart phones and keep texting each other often about quite inconsequential matters. Another thing is the lack of decent footpaths in suburban areas. We have a concrete footpath on the other side of our street but not on our side. When I was a child there were bitumen footpaths on both sides of nearly all suburban streets. You could use chalk to draw hopscotch on them and most houses also had front fences (these days very few do) and you could tie one end of the skipping rope to the cyclone fence and, with one friend on the other end of the rope, you could skip to your heart's content, taking it in turns to be the one on the end of the rope.
When Perth was much, much smaller than the urban sprawl of modern times I remember going into the bush and picking wildflowers or going to the local park to play. We have several parks near us with beautiful play equipment but I seldom, if ever, see that equipment being used. I am sure it's not just stranger danger that keeps children away but they've lost the art of really having fun and keeping healthy by just being out there....doing stuff.
I take my hat off to Mr Worthy and hope his project gets off the ground really quickly so that children in the area learn what it is like to really enjoy being outdoors again.
I love it. There is a tendency to build McMansions here, which use up all of the land and leave nowhere to play.
ReplyDeleteAnd I well remember as a child being sent outside at every available opportunity. The television wasn't turned on until late - usually after dark. And I think we benefited from it.
In summer, I remember spending dawn to dusk or later at the beach, alone. I was 8-9-10
DeleteI had a farm to play until I was 6 but even when renting places for years there were always gardens and parks to play in. No TV when I was young and one radio in the house. We listened to serials of an evening but otherwise I read or played the piano if I wasn't playing outside. When on holidays in Mandurah from age 8 I used to swim on my own but there were dozens of people around and I was so safe.
DeleteIt sounds like John Worthy is very well suited to be in charge of children and I applaud his actions in making space for children to play and use their imaginations.
ReplyDeleteThere really is a terrible lack of open spaces for kids these days and many parents don't want kids out of their sight anyway, because there is a fear of predators, kidnappers, paedophiles and so on.
Then there is the competitiveness. All kids must have these electronic items and know how to use them so they aren't falling behind everyone else. They can't be known as the only kid in the class whose parents don't allow him/her to have a smart phone. even at very young ages.
And in this area, I agree with John Worthy that kids just aren't allowed to be kids anymore and this is leading to the aggressiveness we are now seeing on TV news programs.
I was deleted to read what this man was intending to achieve and hopefully the trend will grow as children these days are so cooped up all the time and it's another reason we have an obesity crisis.
DeleteI do think a lot of these electronic devices are given to children these days as parents are guilty at not spending more family time with them. The almighty dollar has become far too important to some who seem to want everything that is available are are prepared to give all their time to getting it without thought of what it is doing to their kids. I often wonder why some people have children if they don't want to have them as part of their lives.
I know some parents both have to work to make ends meet and I think large firms should have creches or after school care so the parent(s) can then spend time with their child(ren) on their way home.
There are just so many ideas that one can think of to make family time better but when shareholders demand large returns I guess firms just don't want to spend the money.
Sounds like a great idea...to get the kids back outside and moving around. As a kid I had acres to wander in. Our daughter had only a small playground as for years as we lived in apartments. I took her to the park every day of the summer and every weekend in the winter and spent hours there. What a joy when we finally got a house with a great backyard.
ReplyDeleteDelores, it's a pity parents these days don't do what you did and take their kids to the park. As I said I often notice beautiful play equipment in nearby parks unused. I even see play equipment in private house gardens and it not being used. I guess technology is a wonderful thing but it has done a lot of harm as well in my opinion.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteThe tech age combined with increased concern over safety definitely put a dampener on innocence and the sense of adventure. Like most here, I recall lots of outside activity and the freedom to roam...and getting dirty was good for immune systems.
This is a 'worthy' effort indeed! YAM xx
Clever Yam. It is indeed a 'worthy' effort and one that hopefully will catch on at other schools where possible.
DeleteI remember the saying "an ounce of dirt before you die" or similar and I truly think people today are far too health conscious and are continuing using chemicals to clean instead of good old water with perhaps a little soap when needed. Then of course there is the bicarb and white vinegar which works miracles.
How times have changed especially for our children. Its nice to know that there are many people out there trying to turn a bit of time back and enrich their lives.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to hear further about Mr Worthy's plans and to know they finally come to fruition. In our Perth climate we have to be careful of the sun but it is ideal for children being outside even during our winter months when we often have bright sunny days.
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