I blame the parents

Ten days or so ago, I was MC and facilitator of Parents' Night Out in Brisbane. It was a good night. There was music, from a vocal group I'd never heard of before (they were wonderful), comedy from mother of five Fiona O'Loughlin (she was brilliant) and a discussion with the cheery heading "Are today's cities destroying childhood?"

Not long into it, one of the panellists, I think it was Geoff Woolcock, wondered aloud whether the culprit wasn't so much cities as parents. After all, it's parents that hover like helicopters over their precious children; it's parents who drive their children everywhere rather than encourage them to cycle or walk; it's parents with the best of intentions who have lobbied to remove risk from their children's lives.

Another panellist, the geographer Paul Tranter, thinks about child-friendly cities a lot - it's his job. A while ago he went to a transport conference. Paul spent the day listening to economists and engineers talking about cost-benefit analyses and the efficiency of transport networks. Jeanie Mac!
Eventually someone (it wasn't Paul) asked "have you factored into your models the loss of children's joy and wonder?" I think you can imagine the response.

We have lost a bit of joy and wonder. Over the last year or so on Life Matters, several guests have highlighted the importance of children being allowed latitude and freedom. It's not good for kids if they're only unsupervised inside the house or garden - they need to be given the skills to learn to navigate their neighbourhoods safely and allowed to get on with it. In the long run, it's safer. Adolescence is too late to be learning road sense

Think of your own childhood and the best bits that come to mind are probably when you were away from the parental gaze. That's what too many of today's kids are missing out on - a bit of benign neglect.

Prue Walsh has spent decades consulting on play. She's the person that schools and local governments around the country and all over the world ring to make their playgrounds better. If they're too safe, she reckons they're boring. "I blame the safety-nazis," she says.

I don't. I blame the parents. With the best will in the world, and the most positive intentions, we've got this wrong. And our kids are missing out.