The Accident Compensation Specialists UK    

“We want [our children] to be protected from harm and abuse. But this does not mean we should wrap them in cottonwool. Childhood is a time for learning and exploring”, he said. He did not agree with schools that had banned snowball or conker fights on safety grounds. “My assumption is that if it snows, kids go out and have snowball fights”, he said. Mr Balls said society in general needed to adopt a more commonsense approach to the compensation culture, which deterred schools from doing anything risky for fear of being sued. He adopted a similarly robust attitude to school trips, admitting that these could never be risk-free, but emphasising their enormous educational value, particularly for children from deprived backgrounds. Mr Balls said the Government would be mounting a public education campaign to encourage parents to let their children play outside. At the same time, however, he cautioned parents about other risks posed by developments, such as the internet. Nearly half of children claimed to have given out personal information online but only one in twenty of parents realised this. One in three children had received unwanted sexual or nasty comments online but only one in 20 parents appeared aware of this.

Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent and author of the book Paranoid Parenting, welcomed Mr Balls’ attack on the risk-averse culture, but warned equally against trying to institutionalise play. “Kids should feel open to play however they want. We should not regard play as part of the curriculum”, he said.

Source: Claims Standards Council weekly e-mail bulletin