CYP Now - EDITORIAL: We need a play policy, not playing at policy

Newspapers last week were full of headlines about couch potato toddlers, following research from the University of Glasgow highlighting a lack of exercise and evidence of obesity among toddlers. The children studied spent an average of just 25 minutes a day in moderate to vigorous physical activity - half the time recommended for good health.

The answer is very simple. It is play - unstructured activity that children do because it is fun, or as Webster's dictionary puts it, "exercise for the sake of amusement". Play is not just healthy, it is essential for every child's physical, social and mental development.

It is puzzling, therefore, that play was conspicuously left out of the mix when the Government brought various services within the new Children and Families Directorate. Play was left with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which allocates it a budget of just £500,000. The Government will point to £200 million that the New Opportunities Fund is providing for play development. But you cannot sustain long-term provision on the back of a one-off Lottery grant. It is no use building new playgrounds if they can't be maintained.

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