Children at play / Department of the Environment.

  • Great Britain. Department of the Environment.
Date:
1973
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Children at play / Department of the Environment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    193 Children from disadvantaged homes 188. Although supervised facilities will not of themselves solve all the problems of children from disadvantaged homes, many of them are in particular need of the individual attention provided by such facilities. It has been estimated that at least 15% of all children are socially disadvantaged in some way: children from culturally deprived, inadequate or delinquent backgrounds; chil- dren with only one parent; children who are physically or mentally handicapped; children who have physical or mental illness in the family; children living in poor housing conditions; children who are restricted at home because one or both parents are on shift work and need to sleep during the day.°7’°® 189. However, though the first consideration should be for such children, we should not lose sight of the fact that it is not only the children from poor and deprived homes who may lack ade- quate opportunities for play. Many parents do not realise the importance of play or know how to play with their young children.'!®->° And even children fortunate to have enough oppor- tunities within their homes gain enormous benefits from sharing their play with other children. Whatever else, play is a social activity.