Childhood Transformed? Risk Perceptions and the Decline of Free Play

Occupational therapists have been concerned with the health-promoting aspects of children's play. The evidence suggests that children's freedom to play away from adult supervision has declined in recent years and that parental perception of risk may be a factor in this. This research used a qualitative approach to explore six parents' views on how their fear of risk might be shaping their children's play. The parents stated that their children were now more likely to take part in activities supervised by adults. The article shows that these findings may be linked to national trends and that occupational therapists should be concerned about the health implications of these changes. It is suggested that further research should take into account other factors that might affect children's play.