Published on 12, July, 2020
I appreciate that the police are stopping people from driving to the park for a good reason - to prevent the spread of coronovirus. However, this leaves us with a problem of finding a safe place to let my 4 year old ASD son run around outside. We have a garden, but it would be good for his physical and mental well-being to exercise somewhere else for a change.
Normally we drive to a park he knows well, where it's safe to let him run around for ages. However, its 15 min drive away so we can't get there. So our only other option is to walk the streets with him, which is really not safe with a child prone to meltdowns and running off. He is also too big to go in the pushchair.
The thought of not being able to take him out is depressing.
I know the rules around the lockdown have been relaxed for some things since you posted but I wanted to share what I've tried.
I have 2 young boys (ASD) and can only take them to very specific places because of running away, meltdowns and no awareness of danger.
I went onto google maps and looked locally for any green areas on the map, even small ones. I then zoomed in to see if any were public parks or playing fields and if they were enclosed or had any dangers nearby such as rivers, roads etc. I've been able to find a couple of new places I never knew about quite close to where I live to take my children to that are relatively safe. It's just another option in case you can't get to your usual place you and it's worth trying.