UK Edition
Would you let a four-year-old light a fire? A safety group says you should
A safety organisation in the Netherlands is campaigning to encourage parents to let children play more dangerously.
Dutch children are the happiest in the developed world according to UNICEF, but VeiligheidNL believes they are being “pampered”.
The national safety body has launched a campaign called “Risky play”, saying children should be encouraged to play with penknives, climb trees and light fires – with appropriate supervision.
It warns increasingly protective parents, schools and governments that children aren’t learning to manage risk for themselves – despite the fact that solo child cyclists are a regular sight on the school run.
“There is more child obesity, and there are initiatives to get them to move more and eat more healthily,” said project leader Judith Kuiper. “This initiative has a wider goal: it aims at what we call ‘risk competence’, so children become more independent and better at protecting themselves.
“If they are properly guided, a child of five can light a fire, sometimes even a four-year-old. You should warn them that it’s hot and you shouldn’t stand on the wrong side if there is wind. But they should learn to handle fire, rather than you saying: ‘Don’t do that. It’s dangerous!’”
In the UK, it is an offence to leave a child alone if it places them at risk, and parents can be prosecuted if they leave a child unsupervised “in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health”.
But Kuiper said their campaign is about nuance. “A child of two should not be left alone by open water, but this might be fine for a child of seven with a swimming [proficiency] diploma,” she said. “There’s a social tendency for children to be more protected, pampered and regulated but in Scandinavia and Canada we’re seeing a counter movement to allow children to be more free.”
The campaign website asks parents to answer whether they would let their five-year-old climb a tree, a seven-year-old light a campfire or a six-year-old go to a park with friends, out of sight. It suggests facilitating children playing at heights, with speed, dangerous substances, in dangerous places, with some rough-and-tumble and out of sight.
It was inspired by a survey of 1,000 Dutch parents by TNS NIPO, which found 79% would be happy to let their children take risks while playing, but were constrained by fear of injury and others’ disapproval.
The campaign was also influenced by researchers such as Norway’s Professor Ellen Beate and international studies such as a positive review of research on risky outdoor play and children’s health, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Froukje Hajer, a prominent Dutch childcare advisor and author of a recent book on children, risk and play, said: “If you only focus on danger and rules, you forget that you must offer your child a good educational environment. The fact that people are more likely to sue and complain leads to a really nasty atmosphere.
“We are probably less strict about this in the Netherlands than in England and America – where I think things contravene children’s rights. Rules and fines are bad taskmasters.”
Ruud Offreins, a family lawyer at Seegers & Lebouille in Amsterdam said: “You are fully responsible for the risks that a child takes, to keep an eye on them and give them an age-appropriate upbringing. If a child of three climbs in a tree, that’s dangerous, but if it’s a teenager of 16, that’s fine.”