The Freedom and Development of Young People: More Restrictions, More Trouble Ahead.

Mayer Hillman: Senior Fellow Emeritus of Policy Studies Institute

Our research has shown that, compared with their parents when they were children and, even more so, compared with their grandparents when they were children, the lives of young people have become more and more circumscribed. The later age at which they are allowed out on their own and the consequent form of imprisonment within the home has entailed less and less physical activity and socialising.

Young people's traditional play spaces - the streets and open spaces that acted as their outdoor classroom - have been denied them, overlooking the complementary and valuable role that the neighbourhood used to and can again play as the proper locus for their development

This generation of young people are far less likely to be able to learn how to make decisions when on their own, how to act responsibly and how to assess the motives of those they do not know. They are less likely to be able to have adventures, extend personal frontiers, be mischievous, learn directly the consequences of being careless, gain self-esteem and self-confidence from acting sensibly, and contribute to family and community life by shopping, visiting or running errands for old people. These are all essential components of becoming responsible citizens.

The campaigns of Stranger Danger and Kidscape's Yell, Run and Tell imply that any person a child does not know may be an abductor, molester or rapist, and that therefore children should not talk to strangers. The natural consequence of this is that children are made distrustful if people they do not know speak to them. The Walking Bus, where young people walk in line to school with an adult front and back, is another initiative which promotes a sense of paranoia and exaggerated concern in the minds of young people, their parents and adults more generally. It sends a message to impressionable young minds that this is the safe way to cross the 'minefield' to school and that if they stray from it their lives will be at risk. Perhaps the most contentious initiative affecting children's freedom is the Curfew that, under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, local authorities can now impose on unsupervised children.

These approaches have damaging consequences for young people's physical, social and emotional development. They overlook the fact that, in the same way that resistance to germs is promoted by exposure to mild levels of infection, so too is coping with bullying, intimidation and so on, best promoted by developing defensive mechanisms based on personal experience. In other words, reducing exposure to risk can make children more vulnerable. Children need to take risks to find where their personal and the public's boundaries lie and when to exercise caution.

Our surveys also inquired into parents' attitudes on this subject. Concern was greatest about the growing risk of young people being harmed by a motor vehicle - reasonable perceptions borne out by casualty statistics. The other area of parental concern is less justified - growing fears about young people being assaulted or molested. But this risk must be seen in perspective: children are far more at risk of being killed by their parents than by strangers and far more are killed by strangers in motor vehicles than by strangers on foot! The problem lies in the fact that when these extremely rare events occur, they are immediately splashed on newspaper headlines and on radio and television. This has led to more of young people's waking hours being spent under the watchful eye of an adult.

I believe that we must tackle the problem at its source. From this perspective there are some rather obvious courses of action.

1. Recognise that a more effective way of dealing with young people's problems is to get at their root cause that is so often due to social conditions.
2. Change our cultural attitudes to young people who are presently treated as second class citizens.
3. Put far more effort into education so that the public is better aware of the substantial health benefits and cost-effectiveness of walking and cycling.
4. Make our roads safer by restricting both the volume and speed of motor traffic.
5. Encourage the media not to exaggerate the incidents of criminal activity.

I believe that the measure of success of policies based on this approach will be seen in more people on the streets, more young people getting about on their own and becoming 'streetwise', more of them mixing with 'strangers', and generally a more relaxed and friendly community.