According to Cox (2020), young people need both time and freedom, not restrictions, to explore the places where they live. Active exploration of the neighbourhood can have positive benefits by increasing opportunities for independent decision making and the development of new friendships. Walking to and from school provides young people with exposure to the streets, configuration, and people in the neighbourhood. Planning routes to a destination involves a level of decision making grounded in experiences gained firsthand. Repeated exposure to people in a neighbourhood can result in a level of familiarity that may lead to the development of new acquaintances and friends. Opportunities for positive development abound when young people are afforded the time and opportunity to get to know their neighbourhood.

Padlet Class 4 example paragraph

Independent mobility is when a youth has the freedom to go to places without supervision from an adult and be with who they want. For example, walking or biking with their friends or siblings or by themselves. For safety but also independence, the youth and their family should have a territorial range which is the distance that the youth is allowed to go from their home when playing or socializing independently and this can grow as the youth ages. In the article, they mention some barriers which parents often worry about including traffic, fear of strangers, distance to where they are going, being on their phones while walking and not having access to service for their phones because of where the youth goes. Some benefits that can relate to independent mobility including having fun and enjoying their time in what they are doing, having less restrictions as they develop and grow up, having more active and playing time outside instead of inside, development of self competence and self esteem, and learning skills on how to know their surroundings and where they are. In this article, they also mention benefits to society due to higher independent mobility of children and youth, such as lower volume of vehicle traffic, lower rates of childhood obesity, and improved air quality. With independent mobility, although there are some disadvantages to youth being outside by themselves without adult supervision, there are also many benefits that the youth themselves and society can receive and learn from.

The group I was in discussed perceived safety as written in the Macdonald et al. Article. We talked about experiences where we could relate to being out in the community and avoiding certain locations or avoiding being out at night due to our perceived safety. We talked about how this can limit the things we enjoy doing like walking and getting fresh air because in the winter it gets dark early and makes a feeling of unsafety. We discussed how things like phones can limit your surrounding awareness but can also be beneficial to make your perceived safety higher during activities as you have a way to call for help should you need. From the article we pulled that perceived safety/security can influence adolescents' girls relationship with outdoor activities. The article says that girls who experience high fear levels are less likely to engage in outdoor activities and can hinder the amount of independent activity they do. Girls would become more reliant on parents for transportation rather than active transportation due to perceived safety. In cox's article they also talk about how perceived safety can discourage parents from allowing children to travel independently and how this prohibts them from the positive developmental benefits of this type of activity.  

 Being outdoors provides a way for adolescent girls to engage in leisure because it is a way for them to clear their heads and relax. Their well-being is supported through physical activity which is what play/leisure can aim to promote. Being in natural spaces plays a role in helping with anxiety and improved attention which are huge bonuses that come along with engage in play/leisure in nature.