To play or not to play in the street: that is the question?

Abstract

Introduction: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive-exploratory study using non-probabilistic, snowball sampling. Objective: to understand whether there is a distancing of children from playing in the street, from the point of view of parents or guardians; listing the reasons that lead to this distancing; and analyzing whether the reasons are the same for children studying in public and private schools. Methodology: The study involved 112 parents responsible for 124 children, 25 of whom study in public schools and 99 in private schools. Results and discussion: The data obtained shows that children don't play in the street: 62% of the parents said that their children don't play in the street, the main reasons being concern about traffic and children's safety and lack of time due to many extra-curricular activities for private school children, and the same reasons plus the lack of structure in the street for children to play in for public school children. Conclusion: The analysis of the data shows that keeping children away from the street is mainly related to parents' fears, often based on the possibility of a problem, which is not always close to them.