THE government’s children’s commissioner is to campaign for youngsters to relearn how to take risks by following the example of Arthur Ransome’s pre-war novel Swallows and Amazons.
Al Aynsley-Green, who was appointed to champion the rights of children, says they are failing to learn the risk-taking skills necessary for adult life because of overprotective parents and schools.
He intends to launch a campaign later this year to encourage and help schools to restore more challenging physical extracurricular activities such as adventure training expeditions, camping and walking trips.
Many have been axed because of shortages of volunteers, soaring insurance costs and fears that parents might pursue teachers through the courts after an accident.

“I want to encourage children to take risks. We argue that children need that and we are trying to expose the issue. How can we expect them to cope with risk as adults?” said Aynsley-Green, a former professor of child health at Great Ormond Street hospital.

“When I was five I roamed the streets and fields with my gang. How many children get that sort of Swallows and Amazons opportunity today?” he said.

He conceded it was unlikely that modern parents would allow such young children to camp and sail dinghies unsupervised as in Swallows and Amazons but he is concerned the pendulum has swung too far towards overprotecting children.

The commissioner hopes to promote the idea of supervised theme parks, where children could climb trees and indulge in creative play overseen by adult volunteers who could be drawn from the retired. He cited organisations such as the Scouts, Girlguiding, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the Outward Bound Trust as those that offered the chance for children to learn about physical risk.