(news item on BBC Website)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6986544.stm

"No outdoor play 'hurts children'

Adult's anxieties are damaging children, the letter says
Children's health is suffering because they are losing the chance to play outside, a group of experts has warned.

Over-anxious parents, computer games and school tests are to blame, a letter signed by almost 300 academics, authors and charity leaders says.

The decline in "unstructured, loosely supervised" play is adversely affecting children's mental health, they add.

It also threatens young people's long-term development, the letter to the Daily Telegraph says.

'Disturbing trend'

Among the signatories are novelist Philip Pullman, director of the Royal Institution Baroness Susan Greenfield and child care expert Dr Penelope Leach.

More than 40 professors, 60 psychologists and psychotherapists, and leaders of the main children's charities and teaching unions also lend their names to the letter."

To see the full news story go to:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6986544.stm

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