In our western urbanized world children suffer from forms of segregation and control: children are just as ‘awkward’ as other social groups because they hinder the so-called moral order of profit and consumption. Home, school, supervised and organized places of leisure activities are presented as refuges against dangers in the street, which is therefore forbidden to children by any means, including a curfew. But the free use of public spaces (consisting of streets, squares, plazas, empty and marginal areas) is fundamental to social skills development for children. One of the three principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the one concerning participation and autonomy, is infringed.