Ensure children can play outside independently | Letter

Urban transport policies and residential design need to respect outdoor play as a vital necessity for children, says Ellen Weaver

In the brilliant Swiss research cited by Lenore Skenazy (If you want your kids to thrive this summer, don’t just turn off their phones – open your front door, too, 15 July), young children playing unsupervised was culturally accepted and normal. The children in the Swiss study who did not play outside independently were prevented from doing so by traffic.

Yes, we need to relieve parents of the horrendous pressure of cultural expectation that children will always be supervised, but parents can’t open their doors for children to go out and play in traffic. Urban transport policies and residential design need to respect outdoor play as a vital necessity for children.