In 1971 Mayer Hillman conducted a survey of how English children got about: at what age were they allowed to play in the street, ride a bike, get to school on their own, visit friends and get about the neighbourhood? In 1990 Mayer persuaded me to join him in re-surveying the same schools he had visited in 1971. We discovered a change even more dramatic than we had anticipated. In 1971 80% of 7 and 8 year old children got to school unaccompanied by an adult. By 1990 this had dropped to 9%. The report of the 1990 survey, documenting the demise of the free-range child between 1971 and 1990, is now available online – One False Move … a study of children’s independent mobility
Since 1990 for children things have got much worse. Two new reports document the continuing loss of children’s traditional independence and, one hopes, will inspire a counter-revolution: No Fear- growing up in a risk averse society by Tim Gill , and Risk and Childhood , by Nicola Madge and John Barker.
Dec 07