Kids Afraid to Play in Public

"Children and teenagers are so scared of the outdoors they prefer to hang out in shopping centres, play computer games or go to school, a new report shows.

The snapshot of Sydney children reveals both primary school-aged boys and girls and adolescents have nowhere to play in a modern city."

"The Commission's Built Environment report found children don't like to catch public transport because they are worried they will be robbed or see people do drugs.

'It's not safe on the streets if you're alone, you can't go to public toilets, the train station's not safe. There are people doing drugs,' a 12-year-old boy said.

An eight-year-old girl surveyed said she didn't like playing in parks because 'someone might come and do things to you ... or you could be wearing bare feet and step on syringes.'"