Andrea Gibb, who wrote the screenplay for the new Swallows and Amazons film, says parents need to allow their children the freedom to experience adventure

“I don’t want them to be frightened of the world,” Mrs Walker says of her children, as she wonders whether she was right to let the four eldest sail off in a dinghy alone to discover an island in the middle of a huge Cumbrian lake.

When I wrote those words in the script for Kelly MacDonald to say, it was meant to express the central theme in Arthur Ransome’s classic book, Swallows and Amazons. That children should be allowed a certain independence and freedom where they are trusted and given responsibility to explore their environment.

This treasured book is, at heart, an evocation of an idealised childhood. The one we all dreamed of, or believed we had. Ransome knew that in all the best children's stories, the young characters inhabit a world where they solve their own problems and are their own heroes. Stories like these allow children to dream and to learn.

Growing up on the west coast of Scotland, I remember vividly being allowed to go off with other children and no adults. We went blackberry-picking and roamed where we wanted. We made up stories and created adventures.

I also spent some of my school days in Cumbria, where we would go on seemingly endless rambles across the fells, not knowing then how that very countryside would one day become the stunning backdrop for a film adaptation of mine.

When writing the screenplay, I often conjured up those memories. That impression of independence, of freedom. Of being in charge of my own destiny.

Even today, Swallows and Amazons – just those three words – have taken on a meaning far beyond the pages of the 80-odd-year-old book. For many, they encapsulate something wider. A spirit, a feeling, an atmosphere. They mean adventures. They mean nature and the outdoors. “It’s very Swallows and Amazons,” people will say, when they embark on a brief camping trip outside of suburbia.

One of the most enduring moments in the book is that simple nine-word telegram: “Better Drowned Than Duffers. If Not Duffers Won’t Drown.” It is an iconic message - a triumph of no-nonsense parenting, of trusting your offspring, and is still quoted to this day as a pointed response to perceived ‘Nanny State’ rules.

But is the dream of a 'Swallows and Amazons' childhood an attainable one? Can we honestly expect parents to ignore the health and safety warnings, unzip the high-visibility jackets and let their little ones loose without supervision? Did it even happen back in Ransome’s day?

can imagine the looks a parent would get if they let their child wobble off on their first bike without wearing a helmet or to sit in a dinghy without donning a lifejacket.

So are our children suffering from ‘helicopter parenting’ and, if so, how do we find a meaningful compromise?

Maybe it’s not so much about safety equipment and more about allowing the child to believe they are explorers, adventurers. About letting them think they’re discovering the world themselves and not just being shown around it by a grown-up.

I hope our film will give many parents a pause and a chance to reconsider just how tightly they hold the reins. With a little care and imagination, we can loosen the leash a bit, watch from a little further away and allow our children to imagine their adventures are just like those of the Swallows and Amazons.

By encouraging our children to put down their screens and go outside more, to look at the stars, to build a den, then we are also enabling them to dream.

* Swallows and Amazons is released on August 19.