CHILDREN RUN WILD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 November 1940, Page 8

CHILDREN RUN WILD

A SYDNEY PROBLEM. FATHERS AT WAR AND MOTHERS WORKING. To prevent children whose fathers have enlisted and whose mothers have gone to work, from running wild at night, the health committee of the Sydney City Council is considering opening playgrounds, in the city area for two evenings a week. The committee has instructed officials to prepare an estimate of the cost of doing this. The city engineer, Mr, Garnsey, made the recommendation after a conference with representatives of the Board of Social Study and Training, the Kindergarten . Union of New South Wales, and the Children’s Library Movement. Aiderman Marks, who presided, said that it was proposed to open the playgrounds on two nights a week during the summer—one night for girls and the other for boys. War conditions had made the matter urgent. Mr. Garnsey reported that supervisors at playgrounds had noticed that the absence of both parents from home had tended to make children run wild after the playgrounds closed, and that the children needed some definite occupation. Investigation had shown that many of their fathers had enlisted, while their mothers had taken on other work during the day, or evenings. Thus the children were deprived of proper supervision. Aiderman Marks said that the problem was too big for the City Council to deal with effectively, though it was prepared to do what it could. The council was spending £15,000 annually on providing and maintaining playgrounds for children of school age, but the thousands of children under school age should be the care of the State Government.

The City Council provided free medical and dental care for the children attending the play grounds, with the result that the attendance at the city playgrounds had increased enormously during the current year. The present daily average attendance at six children’s playgrounds was 2170 weekly.