hen Cary Holt was age seven, he and his pals used to cycle everywhere in Richmond; the city limits were his boundary.
At the same age, Holt, now his 40s, also used to scale the heights of the family tree in the front yard of the family home on Gibbons Drive, near Westminster Highway and No. 1 Road.
While helping his three-year-old daughter, Ellenor, glide down the zip slide at Terra Nova Adventure Park, Holt recalled his glory days growing up in Richmond, as his mom, Bev Holt, listened intently.
Bev nodded her head knowingly at Holt’s recant of being allowed to cycle anywhere in Richmond; but raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth at the tale of the tree.
“At the top of the tree, it was higher than the house; I could see the whole of Richmond, really,” smiled Cary, while his mom shook her head and Ellenor flew head-first down the slide to her granddad, Dave Holt.
“All you could see were the trees, all over the city. When (Ellenor) gets older, I’d have no problem with her (climbing trees).”
As long as you use a bit of common sense, “then it’s fine,” added Cary, who now lives in Scotland, where, he says, there are many parks similar to Terra Nova.
Cary’s words and outlook on parenthood will be music to the ears of renowned English writer, researcher and public speaker Tim Gill, an authority on the changing nature of childhood and children’s play and free time.
Gill used Richmond recently as the launchpad for his cross-Canada speaking and consulting tour, delivering an insightful presentation to a city council chamber packed with city staff and partner agency stakeholders.
The common thread weaving its way through his 90-minute long talk, entitled Popping the Bubble Wrap, was the idea that the pendulum of parental protection has swung too far into the sterile, risk-free zone.
To illustrate his point, Gill asked his audience to turn to the person to their right and recall their favourite place to play as a child.
When asked by Gill if that place was outdoors; a sea of hands was raised. When asked if that place was regarded as “out of bounds,” at least half the room of about 80 people reached up with a grin.
The author of No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society, Gill said many children across the Western World are being deprived of a truly free childhood, fuelled by fear from over-anxious parents and park designers. His movement is reportedly gaining traction in the U.K. and he’s now aiming to spread the word across Canada that more calculated risk needs to be inserted back into children’s playtime and play spaces.
“We are hearing stories about ‘free-range parents’ and how they’re ‘radical and dangerous,’” said Gill.
“But (going by the audience’s childhood experiences) all of our parents were free-range parents. However, anxious parents at one end of the spectrum nowadays have a power of veto over too many things. But how do we take away that veto?
“We all need to learn to love a bit of uncertainty.”
Gill said parents, through parks designers and city planners, have to “rediscover the risks” for children.
“There was something special about our experiences as children, as we got a sense of who we were and we got a small taste of freedom,” added Gill.
“Children today have been affected by adult anxieties of harm. This is a problem.
“We have to transfer the risk management to the kids. They are responsible and competent little people.”
Before making his pitch to city staff, Gill took some time the previous day to run his eye over where Richmond sits on the parental protection pendulum.
The one place that stuck out like a sore thumb, no pun intended, was the City of Richmond’s $1 million Terra Nova Adventure Park, which opened to rave reviews last fall, with its 10-metre high tree fort, spiral slide, zip line and log jam.
However, as impressed as he was by the park’s innovation and desire to test children’s comfort levels, Gill was more taken by the deliberate move to design play elements around two of the hulking trees in the middle of the main play area.
“It’s there to be climbed and it wears its risk on its sleeve,” exclaimed Gill, who will be using a picture of one of the park’s trees during his tour as a great example of inserting risk back into the play equation.
Richmond mom Carrie Ng heartily agrees with Gill and had no problem, during a News visit to Terra Nova, letting her kids, Teagan, 10, and Kaden, 7, clamber onto and scale the 40-foot evergreen in the middle of the park.
“They love coming here; other parks they just find boring,” said Ng, who lives in Steveston.
“They’re already eye-balling the big maple behind our house. My theory is, if they can find their way that high up, they can find a way back down.
“They bounce anyway, don’t they? That’s how they learn; that’s how they learn to problem-solve.”
In terms of how far her kids are allowed to roam, Ng said the pair is allowed to venture to the high school grounds nearby, just under a kilometre away, as long as they have their walkie-talkies.
“I find most parents I know have similar boundaries for their kids; although I do know of some who have issues,” said Ng, when asked if her approach has been questioned by over-protective parents.
“We do have basic safety rules though when they go out; it’s not a free-for-all.”
Indeed, Gill’s testimony is that a “balanced, thoughtful approach is needed in children’s play,” today.
“We hear all the time, ‘kids grow up faster today.’ But nothing could be further from the truth. What we do have is growing adult control.
“All around the world, kids are losing the right to roam and it’s getting harder for children to have that taste of freedom that most of us had.”
Gill beamed onto the screen at city hall a recent article from the Daily Mail in England, which focused on four generations of the one family that grew up in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
The illustration plot-pointed where in the city all four generations – from great-grandfather down to grandchild – lived and shaded the area they were allowed to roam as eight-year-olds.
The great-grandfather, around 1920, pretty much has the run of the city.
Ever-decreasing circles through the generations, though, highlighted the trend impeccably, with the present-day eight-year-old barely allowed to the end of his street.
Gill admitted it’s not easy to get parents to buy-in to the movement and he totally understands, having watched his daughter grow up over the last 18 years.
“The question of child’s play was under my skin and then my own daughter was born and the issue sharpened,” added Gill, who was a policy officer for a charity that supported play.
“I used to take my daughter to local playpark and saw those springy chickens and I thought, ‘Is this what we’re offering?’”
Where’s the line for risk?
The law, said Gill, asks us to be reasonable and “that’s a good place to start.”
“Where you would draw that line depends on the community.
“At the bike park, it gets kind of hairy; but if you want the kids to come, you’ve got to have that stuff in.”
The people who are setting the guidelines right now for children’s play spaces are being “way too cautious,” said Gill.
“It’s about changing the direction of travel and about applying some common sense.
“There is a bit of bravery involved in this from the adults. There is an element of risk and it’s about getting adults, not the kids, out of their comfort zone.
“If you don’t want to take any risks, then don’t build any playgrounds.”
Gill admitted his movement has met with some resistance; but not with any discernable parental group.
“We’re in a bit of a battle with the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials); they want to raise the bar to make playgrounds more spongy,” said Gill, noting the organization’s conflict of interest.
“There’s a very low risk in playgrounds, so you have to ask, why do they want us to spend millions on them?
“What we have to think about is ‘risk benefits assessment’.”
It’s that risk benefit that’s been at the forefront of City of Richmond park planners’ minds for several years.
During training, staff, said senior manager of recreation services Serena Lusk, are always talking about ensuring there are options in the programming for children to be outside - if it’s a nice day.
“The Terra Nova Nature Playschool (opened one year ago) in partnership with Thompson Community Centre,” said Lusk.
“We recognize the heightened awareness around learning in an outdoor environment and we’re very aware of (Tim Gill’s) direction.
“Probably about five years ago I started to really look into this and did a lot of research; I’m a parent, too, with two kids, aged eight and four.
“But I like to think we’re a leader on this and (senior manager of parks) Mike Redpath has been at the forefront of this.”
As well as the Terra Nova Adventure Park and the nature playschool, Lusk cited the Railway Greenway, Richmond Nature Park’s “innovative programs” and Garden City Community Park’s environmental playground as places where the city’s is using its imagination and making a move to get kids outdoors more and not always playing it safe.
Getting the parents on board is another matter altogether.
“It can be slow and we understand their concerns, but there are a lot of parents out there who are looking for this,” added Lusk.
“If they don’t have much awareness beforehand, they tend to jump on board when they realize the benefits.”
Increased concerns over liability, said Lusk, has not been an issue.
“There’s not a lot of liability between going outdoors and sitting in. It’s not the end of the world when they get wet.”
Gill agrees that Richmond is doing some “really interesting things” and he was hoping to flag the city as role model as he moved east across Canada.
“The tree is very brave and I would want to say to the other cities in Canada, ‘this is what Richmond is doing.’
“We can all remember climbing trees; we have to make sure parks have trees to climb.
“Richmond is on the right track and the idea of resilience is here. But you have to continue to resist the pressures to not take risks.
“I want to see the climate around children’s play change and I want to see adults being more adventurous.”
