Was your favourite place to play outdoors and supervised by adults?

These were the questions posed by Tim Gill, one of the UK's leading thinkers on childhood, at the start of his No Fear: Growing Up In a Risk Averse Society lecture, delivered to an audience of child care professionals at Edge Hill University.

The audience response? Most had fond memories of unsupervised play, but they would not allow their children to play in those places today. These are answers that Tim Gill has heard echoed by audiences around the world.

Tim Gill, whose work focuses on children's play and their free time, said: "Perhaps the reason for these changes in the freedom given to children is that society itself has changed. Certainly, the days when most British parents felt able to let their children roam free are long gone. Hold that thought for now, and instead ask yourself another question: why are the playtime memories you shared so universal?  Why do the experiences feel so resonant to us?

"The answer is simple: from the earliest age, we have an urge to get to grips with the world on our own terms: to get the hang of being a human being."

Gill suggested that adults have become confused about the very nature of childhood and the adult role in shaping it. The growing anxiety about harm to children, and harm by children, means that adults have a problem with risk in children's everyday lives. The UK is falling prey to a zero risk approach to childhood, the result of which was described by Gill as: "...taking us 180 degrees away from the kind of childhood that best nurtures children and that best serves the interests of the rest of us."

Using the story of one family who all grew up in Sheffield, Gill illustrated how the horizons of childhood have shrunk over the generations. The great grandfather, who was eight years old in 1919, travelled six miles across the city on his own to go fishing. By 1979, his granddaughter at the same age was able to walk half-a-mile to the local swimming pool. Yet today, an the eight-year-old great grandson is seldom allowed out of the house alone, and at best is allowed to go to the end of the street without an adult hand.

Describing the environment of children today, most would have little or no experience of playing outdoors without an adult present. It is this risk averse society, where children are given little freedom of movement, that Gill believes is leading to a generation of captive children.

Tim Gill said: "Childhood in the UK is becoming colonised by risk aversion. Activities and experiences that previous generations of children enjoyed without a second thought have been relabelled as troubling or dangerous, while the adults who still permit them are branded as irresponsible.

"At the extreme we seem unable to cope with any adverse outcomes whatsoever, no matter how trivial or improbable. Adult anxieties typically focus on children's vulnerability, but they can also portray children as villains, recasting normal childhood experiences as something more sinister."

So, what can society do to allow children the safe space to explore their world? Gill looked at three areas of risk aversion: playgrounds, vetting and child protection, and anti-bullying.

He argued that we in the UK are falling prey to a zero risk approach to childhood: "We need to reintroduce something like the kinds of everyday adventures that epitomised our own childhoods. Experiences that are in danger of vanishing altogether from the lives of today's children.

"Crucially, we need to do two things. First, we need to revise the way we think about children and childhood.  Second, and just as important, we need to put much more effort into making our towns and cities safer, more welcoming and more engaging places for children to grow up in." 

For more information on the Edge Hill Foundation Degree in Early Years, Leadership Education and Practice, the Early Years Professional Status or the Playwork, Leadership and Management course, please contact the Enquiries team on 0800 195 5063.

For more information on Tim Gill, visit www.rethinkingchildhood.com