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

Everyone on here doesn’t do any exercise anyway so they don’t understand the need for it. Irony is the fitter are less likely to overload the NHS

That's bollocks, and goady judgemental bollocks at that. Exercise is important for general health but it is not going to protect anyone from catching coronavirus.

Do feel free to share the research that's led you to your conclusion that 'Everyone on here doesn’t do any exercise', BTW. I don't remember being polled on the matter.

Definately not.
The virus lives on surfaces for up to 3 days... Hence no parks allowed.
It encourages the spread of the virus.

Having a kick about in an open space with your sibling, who you live with, while keeping a safe distance from others is fine. Again I see all critical thinking has gone out the window for a lot of people.

I noticed one on Facebook, if its that one then the kids are definitely in a group and not one household

OP, it's fine. They're alone, kicking a ball for an hour exercising, near no one else, and don't have a garden of their own. They're fine.

Honestly. People on MN would say it's unreasonable for a family living on an island with no other inhabitants to go outside more than once a day, even in their own garden.

And ftr, we are also sticking hardcore to the rules, I am a Key Worker still going into a school to watch other Key Worker children carefully, and I don't allow mine out without us once a day, even though they all fully understand the importance of not being near others and have told their friends to stay away themselves when we've seen them.

but I do think there are risks attached.

A person might go out for a run and fall over. Someone might slip and fall in the supermarket. A Dog might run in front of a car causing it to swerve and hit a petrol station, causing it to explode....

You will never eliminate risk. You take sensible precautions to minimise it. Two siblings kicking a ball about, away from other people are taking sensible precautions.

Yes it’s allowed! It’s exercise ffs. As long as they observe the social distancing it’s fine and within the letter and spirit of the law

They are not playing on the swings Daffie19, they are kicking their own football around

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

Like millions of the rest of the world ....

Eeyore228 Football as defined as a GAME involving numerous players. 2 brothers kicking a ball to each other is not a game of 'football', it's literally what it says, 2 kids kicking a ball to each other.

Same as 2 kids on a basketball court dribbling and shooting at the net with no-one else near is not a 'game' of basketball. It's kids getting exercise which they absolutely should be and every government agency has been saying SHOULD happen to avoid a decline in the nations health.

Of course it is ok. They are part of the same household , they are going out once a day, for exercise. Allowed as guidance.

This thread is totally crazy...

"Can people just fucking think? Apparently not."

Is is on the list of approve activities?

and shooting at the net

At our park the nets and the wooden boards behind them have had notices stuck on them by the parish council saying their out of use.
As has the football goal.

There is just grass, trees and the benches left.

It's fine. They are practising social distancing, only out for an hour and football is exercise.

The point is they don't go near people and only go out once. Does it really matter what the exercise is if these rules are being observed?

That sounds like a gathering of more than 2 people (not from same household). Therefore - explicitly not allowed.

Nope, just individuals who happen to be in the park at the same time, doing the same thing.

Individuals going for a walk in the park wouldn't be classed as a gathering would they?

And anyway, the entire argument on here is that people should use their initiative and do their own risk assessment so, why does a group of people doing yoga in the park pose more of a risk than people walking in the park (as long as they all maintain the required distance)?

For me, the problem on allowing people to interpret the law themselves means that people will bend the rules and cause problems, as my yoga example above demonstrates. We would be complying with the letter of the law but not the spirit of it, which for me is the same as letting kids play football. It isn't complying with the spirit of the law which is intending.to.limit the amount of time we are all out in public. Letting kids play at the park is extending the amount of time they are out.

It's fine as long as they are staying together and not playing on swings or chatting to friends!

if that person took a photo & any of the kids were under 13 he is breaking the law -
on tv a day or so ago a dad with 2 young dc was being interviewed about exercise with dc - he had ball & scooter for dc & there was nothing wrong with that & if people read what op said her ds were not playing with other dc they were in the background so her dc were not disobeying the rules - the guy who did the photographing should stop & consider what he is doing

The runners have been the biggest problem. Once in their run, they are (generally) obsessed with pursuing their route and overtaking very close, expelling a lot of aerosol (as one does when breathing heavily).

I like a run myself but am very careful and I will stop rather than squeeze past people walking with children or old people on a crowded pavement. Most will not.

Personally, I would prefer them to ban running, with lots of people expelling aerosol and sticking to paths than two boys kicking a football on grass, away from everyone else. I know which is actually more dangerous..and it is not the kick around.

We have been going to the park with our DCs and kicking a ball and (shudder) a frisbee! Gets them moving around...on grass no-one else around...I don't see how this with us as a family together is at all a problem for others or gives them any chance of getting the virus.

'Letting kids play at the park is extending the amount of time they are out.'

No it's not.

Play for an hour. Walk for an hour. It's an hour either way.

Did you get a chance to read the transcript? The one where Boris clearly said 'for example'. Even though you definitely heard him say it was ONLY walking, running and cycling?

On our BBC local news the other night they had a segment that covered a local park and the people using it.
They showed footage of a group of 3/4 male students playing football with the reporter saying they’d confronted them re the restrictions.
The reporter then went on to say that as they were all living in the same student household they were doing nothing wrong.

I would say that it was unreasonable because kicking a football about between two kids who are used to doing a lot of sport is not really that much exercise, it's not like playing a proper game where there is some running and changes of speed and direction involved. They would be better to go for a proper run or to work out a circuit they could do together involving say star jumps, timed running, stretches , lunges etc, anything that did not involve equipment or touching surfaces.

'why does a group of people doing yoga in the park pose more of a risk than people walking in the park (as long as they all maintain the required distance)?'

It doesn't.

Individuals doing yoga is fine. Just like walking by yourself is fine.

Group yoga session, not ok. Just like meeting up with a walking group is not ok.

Two brother kicking a ball to each other, fine. An actual game of football, not ok.

It's just common sense.

But I do agree that if you don't have any, it might be better for you to stay indoors.

Yep I did read it.

Wasn't what I remembered him saying at all.

I also have heard scientists and members of the government urging people to stay inside and only to go out if absolutely necessary, not encouraging us all to go out and exercise for an hour a day.

I've just been sent a video, made by a local undertaker showing a temporary morgue being built at the local crematorium. It can hold 1600 bodies. I live in an outer London borough with 250,000 people, yet they are building a mortuary that can hold 1600 bodies at a time.

That's why we shouldn't be encouraging people to go out and play football or lark around at the park.

@larrygrylls You want to ban runners for breathing too hard??

You don't ban running, you enforce social distancing. Otherwise you'll be banning supermarket shopping because people are queuing too close.