ABSTRACT
Sport and other forms of physical activity are among the most visible features of young children’s lives, and for most they are sources of great enjoyment. In recent years, public health agencies have promoted physically active lifestyles, particularly physically challenging play, for young children in increasingly assertive tones. Most people would agree that parents have responsibilities to protect and provide for their children. The concept of a child’s right to an open future (CROF) originates from the philosopher Joel Feinberg (1980) in a discussion of the responsibilities of parents and the state to protect children’s education. The scope and limits of parents’ justified influence over their children’s lifecourses are a perennial one, and the competing values of control and autonomy mean that it will always be difficult to draw clear-cut lines of demarcation between the two at any stage. A CROF goes one step further, however, by claiming that these values hold equally for children and adults they will become.
