Can my kids go to the park or not?

[NeedANewJob19]

I have name changed for this and prepared to be flamed.

My teenage DSs (13 and 16) have been going to the park near our house for one hour each day this week. They go together, they don’t meet up with anyone and they avoid other people using the park. They don’t go to the playground part, they just take a football and have a kick around together just the two of them. I was under the impression that this was ok.
Someone on my Facebook posted a picture yesterday if a group of kids at the same park and I could see my two in the background of the photo. No where near the kids featured just way in the background. This person wouldn’t know my kids. Everyone was commenting about how irresponsible this was and berating the parents, I daren’t comment on it but wanted to check opinions on here. I was assuming they were so angry because it was group of kids presumably not from the same household but now I’m not sure I should be letting my kids do what they’ve been doing

No.

I just wanted to add that we don’t have a garden and the park is 2 minutes walk from our home

Can you really trust them to stay away from anyone they meet? What if they see a friend - wouldn't they be tempted to go over for a chat?

They are allowed to go together for exercise if they’re not meeting anyone else, and not touching the play equipment. Do you trust them to stick to the rules?

I'm not letting mine out alone tbh.

Teenagers aren't great with risk management and it's too easy to stop and say hello or get involved with a game of football if they see their mates.

I wouldn't because it will encourage other teenagers to loiter. It would be ok if you have field in the middle of nowhere but otherwise it encourages grouping in others.

No sorry. You can go for a walk once a day. But having a kick about in the park is not on.

As the police said, this is not a holiday. It’s a lockdown.

Again this is why we are in this situation because people flout the rules for their own means. And yes it’s only a little thing, but lots of people doing little things adds up

We don’t live near any of their friends as we moved further from their school last year so they are unlikely to bump into anyone.
I genuinely thought this was ok as their daily exercise and they are just together as from the same household

We are allowed out to exercise. I would suggest going with them. Ignore pictures they were not of your household.

No. They can walk but they can’t play football.

@MabelMoo23

“No sorry. You can go for a walk once a day. But having a kick about in the park is not on”

Please excuse my ignorance but what is the difference? A walk is not going to be exercise for them, they are both used to playing a lot of sport

Walking yes playing football no

It's so frustrating that people STILL don't understand the rules. They are really clear to me.

Playing football is not a necessity. So no they can't do it.

Daily exercise once per day is allowed, this is either a walk, run or cycle.

Very simple.

I would have said it's ok, it's exercise? I'd go with them though.

I would say it's okay as long as we are genuinely talking about a large area where they are nowhere near anyone else - but I would go with them to ensure that they are complying with the social distancing rules (and also to be back up if they have other people approaching them to tell them off).

Can u really trust if they see their best friends they wont get too close? Its difficult for some kids to not get distracted.

If it is exactly as you described it, it sounds alright...
But keeping 100% without occasional dogs running close to them and being chased by their owners doesnt guarantee much.

Seeing boris j with CV is not a promising event to be honest...

If they stay away from everyone else, I can't see why not.

There's plenty of exercise and online workouts that can be done at home if they need something challenging.

A walk/jog/run outside is fine.

You are allowed out once per day for exercise. If you’re absolutely sure they are observing the rules about distancing then it’s fine.

If they are genuinely just playing with each other and not near anyone else what on earth does it matter?!

The whole world has gone nuts.

The point of the rules is to stop the virus spreading. How is the virus going to spread because two teenagers from the same family kick a ball about in a park?!

I get pretty tired pretty quickly of idiots asking stupid questions on here BUT I would say this isn't one of them.
We are allowed out once a day for exercise so yes they will be fine if they avoid everyone else and don't touch anything.

On a side note noone should be posting pictures of other people's children online and that would fucking irk me.

I really don’t see the issue with it providing they are not getting close to anyone. I’m fairly sure the walk, run or cycle was examples of what is acceptable not an exhaustive list of what we’re allowed to do?

Personally I think cycling is far more dangerous in terms of perhaps having an accident and needing an ambulance etc than teenagers playing with a ball in a park as well....!

Fucking hell it really is who can be most miserable top trumps.

You are allowed out for exercise with members of your own household

Football is exercise.

Parks are still open, it's just things like play equipment etc that are out of bound. If you are away from other people having a kick about is perfectly fine.

If you're really not sure, i always think that a good way to measure weather or not doing something is 'ok' (in lots of situations, not just clovid related ones) is to ask yourself:

''Would it be ok if everyone did it?''

If the answer is 'no', (which in this case it is) then .... it's usually best not to do it.