Robin Kearns: A child-friendly city benefits all

Yesterday's Herald offered hope that Auckland may eventually be more child-friendly.

It was reported that the views of a thousand children were sought, and the result is the city council's new policy Growing Up Together. This advocates practical measures such as road safety initiatives, as well as calls to improve children's participation in local government.

The mayor and his team should be congratulated. Any city that focuses only on roads, rates and rubbish risks losing its soul. We simply cannot rely on central government and private interests to invest in our local environment.

There are two reasons why listening to children is important. Children taken seriously are happier and more promising citizens. And a more child-friendly city benefits everyone.

Significantly, the What Children Want list arising from the survey included swimming pools and less traffic. Both are worthy of comment.

The popularity of pools among the young respondents should prompt a re-think of council priorities.

Two years ago, the city withdrew funding that had, for years, subsidised our primary school pool over the summer. It was said that an indoor aquatic centre was available nearby.

This argument is flawed. The aquatic centre in question is enclosed and everyone knows summer is an outdoor time. Children are also charged 500 per cent more than the gold coin conventionally charged at the school pool.

The first summer after the council's decision, the Gladstone pool remained closed. Children missed the fun of swimming locally and parents missed seeing each other over the holiday period.

The school was a quieter, sadder place. The social cohesion advocated by council policy was clearly undermined.

Last summer, after applying to trusts, we received support to keep the pool open. January was a convivial time at the pool again.

This year the same trusts have declined support, saying smoke-free legislation means less use of poker machines which means less money for community causes.

While the verdict is disappointing, it's a relief we won't be swimming on the back of gambling profits again. But that still leaves disappointed children.

A healthy city comprises vibrant, active neighbourhoods. The children have spoken. It's time for a rethink on council support for school pools.

The children's wish list also includes less traffic. When school terms begin, headlines invariably warn "School traffic returns". Why are so many parents chauffeurs when the surveyed children want less traffic?

There's a myth that city children are lazy and want to be driven around by parents. Auckland research demonstrates the contrary.

Children are natural walkers until it is driven out of them by parental paranoia and the quest for convenience.

While being chauffeured may alleviate parental anxieties, it interferes with children's environmental experience.

In recent research, Auckland children were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph what they thought was dangerous in their neighbourhoods. Cars loomed large. To a child, a car appears to be twice as large as it does to us. The message is that too often we fail to see things through children's eyes.

Children can teach us to re-appreciate the small but significant things in life. Last week, two boys were on the footpath near our house, their heads in the bushes. Asked what they were up to, one replied: "We're learning how snails climb trees".

Today's children are tomorrow's engineers and novelists. As National Children's Day approaches on Sunday we should take the council's lead and regularly ask them what they think about their city. Encourage them to speak their minds.

Are children's perspectives just "waste and waffle", as described by the Newmarket Business Association? I think not.

Children may not yet be ratepayers but they are already citizens. Today's children will be the ones making decisions tomorrow when we are infirm and in need of their compassion.

* Robin Kearns is a father of two and a member of the Gladstone Primary Board of Trustees.