Cycling in Melbourne Australia
The Age: Many NSW children being mollycoddled
The Age: Many NSW children being mollycoddled (May 17, 2008 - 12:09AM)
A new generation of NSW children is being mollycoddled by their fearful parents, with many children reporting they can no longer ride their bikes.
NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People Gillian Calvert warned that fears over traffic and stranger danger have meant children are missing out on basic life skills and simple pleasures.
"Over the past 10 years we have seen a real reduction in the range at which children can leave their family home and move freely," Ms Calvert told News Limited.
"Kids tell us they can't ride their bikes around streets anymore."
Basic skills such as climbing trees, bike riding and crossing the road are in danger of being lost.
Doctors at the NSW Commission of Children and Young People and University of NSW conference reported that rates of anxiety disorders are on the rise among children whose freedom is restricted.
Sports Medicine Unit director Dr Carolyn Broderick said fundamental motor skills were developed through play, as well as balance, co-ordination and strength.
"Children now have a fear that wasn't there in the past," she said.
The research showed a significant reduction in free playtime among children, Dr Broderick said.
She said a quarter of parents were actually discouraging their children from playing sport because they were worried about injury.
A new generation of NSW children is being mollycoddled by their fearful parents, with many children reporting they can no longer ride their bikes.
NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People Gillian Calvert warned that fears over traffic and stranger danger have meant children are missing out on basic life skills and simple pleasures.
"Over the past 10 years we have seen a real reduction in the range at which children can leave their family home and move freely," Ms Calvert told News Limited.
"Kids tell us they can't ride their bikes around streets anymore."
Basic skills such as climbing trees, bike riding and crossing the road are in danger of being lost.
Doctors at the NSW Commission of Children and Young People and University of NSW conference reported that rates of anxiety disorders are on the rise among children whose freedom is restricted.
Sports Medicine Unit director Dr Carolyn Broderick said fundamental motor skills were developed through play, as well as balance, co-ordination and strength.
"Children now have a fear that wasn't there in the past," she said.
The research showed a significant reduction in free playtime among children, Dr Broderick said.
She said a quarter of parents were actually discouraging their children from playing sport because they were worried about injury.
Tags: anxiety, bicycles, children, mollycoddled, nsw
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Matt Holden on -
The answer? Ride with them! Teach them to be safe and sensible -- then when they're big enough, let them ride alone ...
and climb trees with them ... and fall off trampolines ... ouch!!!
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Permalink Reply by Matt Holden on
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By the way, this is the same Sydney that reports the phenomenon of working parents sending their kids to boarding school so they don't have to drive them away across town to get there and back every day ...
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Permalink Reply by Rob on
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they would be the same parents who don't eat with their kids (in a family meal time) when they are home, they shower their kids with gizmos and their own TV for their room at home ( where they retreat to to eat meals and and immerse in the internerd or electronic games) and aim at setting their kids up as anti-social,, cyber-assassins, with no physical motor skills beyond thumb manipulation, with a vocabulary of "yeh, nah, waht, and fgoff auldfahrt" ...... of those kids, the ones with some sense of social inclusion suffer the anxiety states referred to above, the rest consider it normal and will do the same or worse to their kids down the track, if they work out how to reproduce...err... replicate !
The best thing I found with mine, (and I have four boys)... grow up again with them... eat with them, laugh with them, and cry with them... kids love inclusion and routine, they love a role model & they naturally adopt mentors (especially in mid teens), the aim of a parent is to provide security, nourish curiosity, encourage expression, and re-inforce the personal and interpersonal strengths of compassion, diversity and independence... along the way, play in the dirt, climb trees, have adventures, compete for the fun of it, make things, share, give and grow...
Helicopter parents complicate this mix by either denying it ( as they see it as too hard and they cant cope themselves, ) or they are plain selfish and don't give a fig...
Wide ranging use of bicycles by as many people in the community in as many ways as possible, especially for utility and recreation, are public displays of humans having independence, mobility, confidence and skills of life... as is often said, cycling is a metaphor for life... live it ...do it!
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Permalink Reply by Mark Donnellan on -
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Permalink Reply by Matt Holden on
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So there is something about spinning your legs around that makes your brain work, too ...
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Permalink Reply by LongLoad on -
Well put Rob, I agree with every point. Get the kids out there and do stuff with them. Teach them and learn from them.
In Oregon, USA they have started riding Kidical Mass once a month to raise awareness about kids riding (a spin on the Critical Mass idea) Maybe we need one here too.
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