Fewer children in the North East are playing out on their streets, according to new research that is warning over the negative impact this could have on young people’s wellbeing.
A survey by Save the Children and a range of play organisations found that 62% of adults said they regularly played on their street as a child but this falls to just 27% of children now. Of the North East children questioned by the survey, 46% said they played in their street as much as they would like but 41% said they would like to do it more and 20% didn’t do so at all.
Children report being told to stop making noise, playing ball games and climbing trees, while parents say they fear irritating neighbours if their children play outside. A third of children said it was their parents’ fears that restricted them from playing near their homes, but they also cited stranger danger, traffic, lack of space in which to play and intolerant neighbours.
