A place to play

A letter in today's newspaper forum is further evidence of how residents in Singapore are so coddled and cosseted that healthy physical - which also affects mental - growth is stunted.

I was dismayed that children are actually barred from running and playing on school fields, not just before and after school but also during recess. Some schools even fence and lock up fields to discourage students from approaching them. These fields are meant only for physical education (P.E.) lessons.

The folks in charge say that it's for the children's safety and that it's expensive to maintain fields when kids play on them. Frankly, I'd rather expense went to the fields so that kids have their land to play. Schools are better off with tattered fields and happy, active children than unspoiled stretches of grass.

Sure, adults will always worry for their children, but keeping them from every imaginable disaster isn't going to do them a lot of good. They need to face a little roughing up so that they know what's out there and how to prevent dangers on their own. Cuts and bruises, bumps and lumps - they toughen up the little tikes, who develop tolerance and resistance to minor injuries. Children can heal faster in many cases, and not daring to expose children to the outdoors will just diminish their resistance levels.

Here's an apt article in today's paper - recent findings show that high levels of myopia in Asia are due to lifestyle habits and are not genetic. Children spend too much time indoors studying, using the computer or watching TV, so their eyes become less able to focus on objects far away. To put it simply, children need to get outdoors and have some good, clean (or rather, dirty - children shouldn't be afraid of getting their shoes and socks muddy in a brisk game of catch) fun that doesn't involve printed words or pictures on screens.

Nobody wants pale and pasty kids who are terrified of getting mobile and a little muddied up. But these are the kids we're going to have if we don't give them the space to let loose their energy and imagination. We'll never get our Ronaldos or Federers at this rate.

If schools are really trying to save money by reducing the usage of fields, it's a terrific example of being penny-wise and very foolish. Oh well, that's their warped idea of priorities - keep their fields pretty and empty then. But I pity the children who don't know what they've lost.

Posted by Monoceros at July 8, 2004 12:18 AM