A new report has found that British youngsters spend less time outdoors than any generation in history, with 73 per cent saying they spend more time watching television than playing outside. Thirty-six per cent said they go outside to play once a week or less, while 63 per cent admitted using video games once a day.
More than one in five children – 21 per cent – said they had never visited a farm, while 20 per cent said they have never climbed a tree. The poll of 2,000 kids aged eight to 12 highlights how a generation is growing up out of touch with life outside. With Wildlife Explorers and a whole team of Youth and Education staff like field teachers trying to engage Children to learn about the Natural world The RSPB wants Youth to get involved more in Nature, Wildlife and their surroundings. How does everyone feel about this new report? and How do those of you with Children teach your kids about Nature and Wildlife?
Love to know your thoughts?
Tom
Why not check out the news from the wildlife enquiries team?
Hi Tom
I think it is a lot to do with our own upbringing as people, and how we relate to the outside world.
My family where always encouraging myself, and my brother to enjoy hobbies such as birding, art, and horse-riding I began horse riding when I was 6 years old. I am an avid reader reading anything I can as I just love the whole thing about learning and having an enquiring mind. I was brought up in the countryside and had very few neighbours. I do remember having a few strong friends form my pony riding and my neighbours where good to know too.
TV was limited in the olden days and their was only 2 TV channels (from what I can remember and in black and white LOL), and a test card during the night at the very beginning of my own life in the late 50's early 60's. There was limited TV, so you had no option but to occupy yourself elsewhere. That kept myself and my brother away from being indoors most of the time.
These days technology has taken over a lot, and it has opened a minefield for children to remain rooted to a chair 24/7 if they have a chance to do so. PC games and TV are the main stream things to watch now.
I think it also depends on the family, how parents teach their kids to be interested in the natural world. If the parents show no interest in wildlife, their children will be caught up in the same senario. It is a sad fact to me that is the case.
This is where education steps in at school to teach children all about the world and what it has to offer them. So children can relate to the real world, and not be pressured into a society that conforms by what is right by other peoples standards and thoughts.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Thanks Kathy
I completely agree it is a shame that we are raising "Cotton Wool Kids." I remember when i was young living in rural Bedfordshire the only thing to do was to climb trees and paddle in brooks and streams. I think you are correct. Schools should push more to get kids involved with nature. Technology and the internet are great (obviously) but its nice to get outside : )
Thanks
Hi Tom.
By the age of eight children are in many cases already lost to nature. .... It is the parents that are the problem not the children. And in the same vein, the Parents parents.
I could go on add-infinitum about most adults I know that are frightened of Birds(especially pidgins), Spiders, Moths (don't get that one as they are not afraid of butterflies in the main). Most would not pick up a worm, snail or slug. And don't even ask me about bee's and wasps... It is pitiful ... BUT... They will watch with glee animal programmes on the TV!! Go figure?
SO!! whose fault is it??? MINE, working to give a better life and more possessions to my children than I had, ... Letting Health and Safty, and to some extent the law makers tell me what and where was SAFE for my children ... And not realising MY mistakes until I got to be old!! Or realising that I had a great childhood without all the protection and things I thought my children needed.
Bright spot !!! .. I have the time and the energy to enthuse the 3-6 year olds that I know now.. Join me!! And give the Schools/Teachers a fighting chance.
Keith Leitz
Kathy, Dave.
You got there first again.
Funny how we "Sort" of agree on what is wrong.. But you from the country (it seems). Me from an industrial town.
Good point about TV limits.. One of my ego boosts as a kid was that we were the first to have a TV in our area! let alone street. (I still don't know how. I never asked.)
I ask myself. Am I now my Dad? ... I seem to think the way he did ... Even if it is not on the same subjects... I know he would tell me to get a life if he saw me here as often as I am... BUT! I also know he would have sat in my chair immediately I left!! If he knew I would not catch him at it. :-)
Regards. Keith
I think it is very sad that children today do not get outside enough.
My children (now 23 & 24) grew up in the middle of a town and we had a very small courtyard garden,no lawn or trees etc but we did have a pond.They spent a lot of time outside even though there was not much space.We had to walk nearly a mile to the nearest park where they could actually run around!
We once went to a park during the summer holidays and we were the only ones there all afternoon.
We had no car so we walked everywhere and my kids have got so used to it that they never even think about using a bus.
They have both grown up with a great love of nature and wildlife.My son has a great interest in trees and my daughter loves hiking.
I think parents have to make sure that their children get out and about but these days that is not so easy with both parents at work etc.
It's not always easy to hug a hedgehog.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't.
Hi,
when my son and his friends were about 9 they used to climb trees on the green near their school- they were told off by local neighbours !
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
I took my son to snettisham farm park when he was small- and they let dads go in the climbing / wooden tubular / tree house maze :)))) We also regularly visited Sandringham park where there was an under 12's adventure playground / wooden fort / swings / tyres on poles etc. ( dads NOT allowed :(( ) We also hit Legoland hard at least twice on rainy days and had a good time.
I also showed him how to climb decent sized rocks ( 20 foot granite lumps) at the base of cliffs on Welsh public beaches. We still go up them if we see one on holiday :) He does also use a computer a lot for his studies and has online activities. He walks and cycles everywhere but isnt really sporty :)
He has fantastic eyesight but NO interest whatsoever in birding LOL !
I don't think both parents working is any excuse, both my parents worked but I still grew up in an environment where I could go out and see wildlife, visit the farm places, zoos, local nature reserves, good wildlife sites at the side of the road etc. Other relatives have their part to play and it was this combination that supported and encouraged me to take an interest in nature. I had books about wildlife, watched wildlife documentaries including ones that dealt with more serious issues that had warnings of disturbing footage. Nothing was hidden from me, I wasn't shaded from the brutal side of nature by being left to watch the kiddies documentaries that leave out the more unpleasent sides of the natural world.
Interestingly though, my brother who was brought up the same way never developed the same interest. He's very much an urban person so I don't even think it is a case that all children will develop or have an interest in nature. Everyone is an individual and it is important to remember that but at the same time the opportunity should be there. Both of us had the same opportunity, both of us took different routes.
I think the problems are part of a much bigger social problem that is all linked in and the wildlife issue is just a piece in a bigger puzzle that includes benefit cheats, obesity, a throwaway lifestyle etc. Councils are destroying parks where children can play outdoors to create new carparks and developments, my OH has seen his local parks being taken over to build a bingo hall and other indoor things that aren't even for children so they lose out and gain nothing. Rumours are around that part of our local park is going to be developed and for what? More indoor luxuaries to keep people - adults and children - from the outdoors. How are parents to take their children outside when the parks are being concreted over for carparks, bingo halls, gyms? Local parks are more than just a place for children to kick a ball or for someone to give their dog a run, they are a place for social interaction and more often than not there is wildlife there in the background giving the opportunity for someone to take an interest.
So many people live in cities now that these small greenspaces are needed more than ever. My brother had to give up his car because he couldn't afford to keep it where he lives, which limits where they can go. How many other families are in the same situation? He is lucky because there is farmland close by, but how many others don't have that luxuary and are trapped in a concrete jungle? I think it is time that ALL remaining parkland is protected from developers because so much of it has already been swallowed up by development or the council gets rid of it because they can't be bothered to tackle problems in the park.
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
When I was young we always had loads of other kids around,but talking to my sister the other day she said that her sons friends all lived many miles away,his best friend over 40 miles away!
This is because so many small schools have closed and children are bussed in from very wide areas.So friends you have at school are not close.
when I was a teenager my friends from school were up to 15 miles away because we bussed into the city from all the villages around. My birding mate was from about 4 miles away - different school etc - we met at a gravel pit where we both birded. He's still a mate :)
I just remembered I used to cycle from near Woking to Staines on saturdays to go birding at Staines res and Wraysbury pits when I was 18 :) WEARING WELLIES in winter!! Later it was extended to cover Barn elms and Walton reservoirs too.