Make a child happy: unplug their iPad

READING the long list of health and safety measures imposed by Newcastle City Council in order for an outdoor play scheme to go ahead (six-page forms, hi-vis jackets for supervisors, written agreement from all neighbours), you can see how the organisers might just shrug their shoulders and give up. Too. Much. Hassle.

And there is an element of truth in that: while kids are confined to their bedrooms, playing computer games instead of in real life, they are a lot less trouble, both for the local authority and for parents.

But the long-term repercussions are devastating, already evident in the soaring levels of childhood obesity.

For the next two weeks, during the Easter holidays, countless kids will spend their days glued to screens in their pyjamas, pausing only to order a McDonald’s online. It’s time for positive action. If every parent unplugged every console, our streets and parks would once again be filled with the sounds of children playing: cheeks rosy, noses dripping, knees dirty.

Yes, they might break a few windows and bones along the way, but it would be a small price to pay for something that increasingly seems to elude today’s youngsters: happiness.