Children 'robbed of outdoor play'

Over-anxious parents, video games and a "test-driven" education system are conspiring to rob children of the "vital" opportunity to play outdoors, leading experts have warned.

A group of almost 300 teachers, psychologists, children's authors and other experts fear the erosion of "unstructured, loosely supervised" play is dangerously affecting young people's health.
They have used a letter to a national newspaper to highlight their concerns, a year after a similar missive spelt out fears that childhood was being "poisoned" by the modern world.
Among those who have signed the new note are novelist Philip Pullman, Baroness Susan Greenfield, director of the Royal Institution, and child care expert Dr Penelope Leach.
In the latest letter, the experts say research in the last year has bolstered the case that Britain's children are facing a mental health crisis.
"We believe that a key factor in this disturbing trend is the marked decline over the last 15 years in children's play," the letter says.
The experts insist that play, particularly outdoors, was vital to a children's all-round health and well-being.
"Many features of modern life seem to have eroded children's play," the letter continues, including increased traffic, parental anxiety about "stranger danger" and a test-driven school curriculum.
They also point to "the ready availability of sedentary, sometimes addictive screen-based entertainment and the aggressive marketing of over-elaborate, commercialised toys".
Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of The Children's Society said the letter was a timely reminder of the "current crisis of confidence in childhood".