by Helene Guldberg (Routledge, £16.99, 0415477239)
Reviewed by Tim Gill, play consultant and former director of the Children's Play Council
The aim of reclaiming childhood is in fact to reclaim play, especially unsupervised play, in the face of growing adult anxieties. Guldberg agrees with my arguments in No Fear that our worries about issues like bullying, new technology and the threat from strangers end up hurting children rather than helping them.
She rails against 'parental determinism' - the view that parents mould their children's futures like putty. Rather, she tells parents to just chill out and give their kids a bit more freedom. Likewise, she holds that teachers should be free to teach; it is not their job to make children happy.
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