Dangerous Games for Children

Once upon a time it was so easy to amuse children. Quite simply they called at each other's houses or played in the woods or swam in the local stream in the summer, without a moment's hesitation, knowing they would be safe from harm and free to play until supper time, coming home at dusk with grazed knees and starving hungry. There were few actual 'purchased' toys around, so we booted an old pumpkin around for a ball, played pick up sticks and 'Pooh' sticks in the stream, made jacks out of little stones on the paving and generally hung out with our friends as often and for as long as possible. Dangerous to even consider such a schedule these days.

Nowadays it is not so easy, nor so worry free. Certainly we still have the woods and the streams and the beautifully countryside for our children to play in but we cannot free them to play in these places unsupervised, for fear of abduction or abuse. It is a sad, sad world where children are unable to express themselves in free play without the threat of serious harm but we are stuck with it for the time being.

So what is the alternative? It is not possible to shadow your child at every single moment of playtime, so we are all restricted to safer pastimes which do not involve allowing our children to run as wild as we would wish, perhaps.

The local playground is always a good choice. Organised mothers nowadays arrange cluster groups and take turns to escort several children to the playground or park. This is a great option because it leaves you free, apart from on your own duty day of course, to go shopping or do your own household chores without being constantly interrupted by the children.

Computer activities are a source of deep amusement for kids and also a great educational tool. Beware, though, of allowing your children unrestricted access to the computer. Never allow a younger child to use the computer where you cannot see the screen, and check from time to time what your child is logged onto. Make full use of the Nanny system and put all appropriate restrictions on your machine to ensure your child is protected from the ugly and lurid material which infects the web today.

Organised summer groups are also a good choice; so many of them are inexpensive as they are subsidised by local councils or parishes. Take advantage of all locally supervised activities for your children as invariably they encourage your child to develop within their own community.

The days of freedom at play are long gone, sadly, but there are some great substitutes out there if you look for them.

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries and traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America and throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun and for money whenever she can manage it.

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