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

It's fine, but I would maybe go with them just to make absolutely sure they're staying away from others.

I think football is actually less likely to spread the virus than walking, running or cycling. Certainly if you live in a busy area, I do and I guarantee those playing a ball game in the middle of the grass are having less contact than the people all trying to use the same path for their walk/run/cycle.

It's just about using common sense.

Yes I'd be asking the admin of that site to remove any pictures of children.

The local FB groups are even more bonkers now than they were before.

No because they will be meeting friends they can go out once a day but it should be for a reasonable length of time. Not all day and only for a walk. They shouldn't be sitting etc

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

Yes I agree although if I was the parents of the children featured I would be too embarrassed for letting them all out to complain!

The community Facebook pages are full of this sort of shaming at the moment. It’s insane. It’s like everyone wants everyone to be sat inside crying their eyes out wiping their bum with the mountains of stockpiled toilet tissue and never setting foot outside the house.

I would have said it was exercise!! What about all these people out in bike rides🤷‍♀️ dog walkers doing several walks a day.. totally flunking the rules 'for the dog' I don't see how this is doing any harm, two boys from the same family kick a ball for half hour.. they are not actually in contact with anyone else. And what about the person at the window taking pic .. really!!

Our local council has said you can use parks but no equipment. That includes goalposts apparently.

I see no problem with this at all.

Why is it ok to jog around the park yet kicking a football in the park isn’t?! There’s no logic to that whatsoever.

Kicking a ball around a park is exercise as far as I’m concerned.

Walking and jogging is no more ‘essential’ than two brothers kicking a football around for an hour in a near empty park.

I think it’s fine, as long as they don’t meet anyone or touch anything. 🤷‍♀️

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.

Playing football is exercise. It is no more or less of a necessity than walking, running, or cycling.

Can you please explain to me why the sport of cycling is a necessity, but football is not?

Wow a real mixed bag of answers here which just goes to show, it really is NOT clear.

To me it’s also about what is safe as well as what is allowed. I fully believe they are safe and not a risk to others either. It’s a massive park of just grass and trees. The playground is all the way on the other side from where they go and they wouldn’t be interested in the playground anyway even if it was ok to use it. I am working from home until 5pm but perhaps I’ll start making them wait until I’m done and going with them

No. Or everyone could just go and take a picnic and some balls and cricket set etc. and sit in the park for the afternoon. Your boys are no more special than the other teenagers in the picture. No large gatherings just go for a walk.

I take my over-active 6 year old to a mostly deserted park to play football every day. A walk would not be any kind of exercise for him, I can only run about 10 metres, and he has a bike but I don't. So, we're sticking with football. The walk/cycle/run were examples of exercise we could do, not the only exercise we could do.

Our park has been closed it's got chains and padlocks around the entrance to stop people gathering in there

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

I really can’t see why it’s ok to run or cycle but not for two people to kick a ball between them. At least they’re pretty much in one small area rather than running or cycling for miles.

If they were the only ones in the park playing, it would be OK

but sounds like other kids were nearby
and always the risk with kids that others will join in, grab the ball when it comes their was etc

I live in Germany, under lockdown for 2 weeks and police have powers to stop any activity that they decide might endanger the 1.5 m rule
We have also been told that exercise should be solitary - walk &/ run / ride - and not too far from home

This is e.g. one legal requirement in Germany:

"When meeting other people, a minimum distance of 1.5 meters must be maintained.

Public behavior that is likely to jeopardize the distance requirement of sentence 2,
such as partying, barbecuing or picnicking, is prohibited regardless of the number of people"

It looks like UK police have similar powers, so be prepared for them to step in, if they become aware of the football

No OP - Unfortunately the only exercise you are allowed to do outside is walking, running or cycling. If they are used to high levels of exercise why not suggest to them that they go running. I know it's difficult at the moment but if we all stick to the rules the sooner we can get back to normality.

The problem is it depends on your individual circumstances and it seems the anxiety and worry has rendered quite a lot of people incapable of using any common sense or judgement!

You know your park and you know your boys and you've made a judgement based on that. That's fine.

I let my 9 year old kick a ball in the park with me walking the dog whilst watching him. I feel this is fine. He’s playing alone

Read this article in the independent “ What about recreational football? Simply put, no you can’t. Police have already reported having to break up informal football matches and kickabouts at public parks, and have stressed that the lockdown should not be treated as a holiday.”

Also when asked about golf/fishing Michael Gove stated that exercise should be limited to specifically one walk, run or cycle a day

Yes it’s unclear and the government do need to make an official statement. The police are being bombarded with people reporting neighbours etc. Mainly because no one is completely clear on what is/isn’t allowed

"No large gatherings just go for a walk."

Two kids who live in the same household kicking a football about is not a large gathering.

The key is to avoid contact with people who you don't live with. That's it. Some degree of fun is actually still allowed.

Completely untrue that the only exercise you can take outside is walking, cycling or running - they're examples You could go to the park and hula hoop if you so wish, as long as you observe social distancing.

Of course you can kick a football about if you want.

Thing is, if teenagers are kicking a football around less other people can use the park safely than if they were walking / jogging around the edge. It gives them more of the available space because two teenagers kicking a football back and forth means you have to leave a wide berth around a bigger area of the park than you do if you are jogging / walking. As a pp said, could lots of people do that and maintain the 2m rule, or are people looking at the available space and feeling that your boys fill it up?

It's a bit like when I was at school and football took up the whole of the playground all day every day, and "other activities" literally happened around the edge of the football so as not to trespass on the very important football space. That changed for a reason. We need to be mindful of the space we take up and away from others now and for many people it will be the first time they've had to accommodate this.

If everyone walks/cycles/runs round the edge, there is no space round the edge.

The space is in the middle. So they're using the middle space. Meaning they're coming into contact with fewer people and the path is clearer for walkers, runners etc.

There is absolutely nothing that says you can't play football, provided that it's in the way your sons are doing it - i.e. keeping a distance from everyone else.

Parks tend to be quite big places. Even if kicking the ball around means they move around more unpredictably, it's impossible to believe other people can't keep 2 metres away.

Do some posters understand that this is about two boys kicking a football to each other?

It is not an informal football match and it is not taking up the whole park.

If only running is allowed then tell them to just run with the ball instead of kicking it to each other