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Children in the UK are increasingly living ‘under wraps’ and are in danger of missing out on important early development reveals new survey.

Children's freedom to play out with their friends is being curtailed by adult anxiety about the modern world, a survey published by The Children's Society reveals.

The survey shows that anxiety about playing out unsupervised means that adults are denying today's children the freedom to spend time with friends that they once enjoyed themselves. When asked the best age for children to be allowed out with friends unsupervised most respondents (43%) said aged 14 or over, despite the fact that most of them had been allowed out without an adult at the much younger age of 10 or under. Respondents over the age of 60 went even further, with 22% saying children should be over 16 before going out alone.

Interestingly, the survey also revealed that early friendships last a lifetime with 69% of respondents saying they are still in touch with at least one childhood friend.

The survey, which has been conducted by GfK NOP, is the first in a series called reflections on childhood being commissioned by The Children's Society as part of its Good Childhood Inquiry.

Friendship Matters

Its findings come in the wake of a recent report from UNICEF which revealed that the UK ranks at the bottom for peer relationships in international tables. There is also research to suggest friendship in the UK is changing, and that since 1986 the number of teenagers with no best friends has increased from around one in eight to almost one in five. And yet children contributing to The Good Childhood Inquiry have said friends are the most important things in their lives.

"Children have told us loud and clear that friendship matters and yet this is an area in which we appear to be failing them. As a society we are in a real quandary; on the one hand we want freedom for our children but on the other we are becoming increasingly frightened to let them out,' said Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of The Children's Society.

“All the research shows that spending time with friends is fundamental to children's wellbeing and development which means it is crucial that we resolve this contradiction. The Good Childhood Inquiry allows us the opportunity to do so by rethinking the kind of lives that we want to create for our children.”

Six Key Themes

The topic of friends is the first of six key themes to be considered by The Children's Society's Good Childhood Inquiry. A summary of the evidence about friendship submitted to the inquiry by the public, adults and professionals can be downloaded from the society's website at: www.goodchildhood.org.uk.

"If we are to ensure that all children enjoy the good childhood they deserve we must consider how society can support and encourage friendships," said Professor Judith Dunn, chair of The Good Childhood Inquiry and a leading expert on childhood relationships.

Over the next twelve months the inquiry will hold meetings on the remaining themes of family, health, learning, lifestyle and values before reporting its final conclusions late next year.

*GfK NOP conducted a total of 1,148 interviews with a representative sample of UK representatives aged 18 or over.

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