City adopts new Play Charter
Lethbridge City Council unanimously agreed to sign off on a new Play Charter for the City of Lethbridge at Monday’s council meeting.
Modelled on a similar charter passed in Calgary last winter, the Lethbridge Play Charter will support play that encourages the physical, emotional and social development of children in the community. It will also embrace geography and climate of Lethbridge to support play year-round, and educate and inform the community about value of play. It will encourage “risky play” to promote the development of risk-taking skills. And it will celebrate and share Lethbridge residents’ experiences with play.
Vicki Hazelwood of the Lethbridge Early Years Coalition brought the proposed charter before council on Monday and advocated strongly for its adoption.
“We are thrilled the vote was unanimous,” said Hazelwood after the council vote. “I think the value of play sells itself. As we think back to our childhood, it’s hard not to see the value of play. The hope is that we will see a shift in mindset in community, that there will be more prioritization and promotion of (unstructured) play within families, and within organizations and agencies in our community.”
Hazelwood explained the concept of “risky play” at the heart of the charter.
“In our society we are seeing a shift where parents are bubble-wrapping kids and protecting them from healthy risks such as climbing a tree, and even possibly falling out of that tree. There is healthy risk, and there is hazardous risk. We want to see more of that healthy risk happening in our community.”
The charter passed easily after Hazelwood explained to council the document would not require additional infrastructure spending to adopt, and would only require minimal funding to create awareness of the importance of play in the community at large.
Deputy Mayor Jeff Carlson said the concept behind the Play Charter dove-tailed nicely with what council already had under consideration in its upcoming Recreation and Culture Master Plan.
“It’s hugely important to this council, and it really supports our strategic plan about livable cities, active cities and healthy community,” he said. “There is a lot in this (charter) which supports what council is trying to do over the next three years. This will give council’s blessing for them to incorporate these ideas, thought and innovations into our Recreation and Culture Master planning exercise. It’s a great thing to see bubbling up from our community.”
The Lethbridge Play Charter will be officially signed on National Child Day on Nov. 20.