Am still catching up on things that happened while I was on holiday. As a Dad of an eight year old boy and a six year old girl, I was pretty depressed by new research which found that only half of seven year-olds are meeting the recommended amount of daily physical activity. That’s not strenuous exercise or playing competitive sport, for the majority of children it will simply mean running around, playing, climbing and exploring.
We know that we have an obesity crisis, caused in part by physical inactivity, costing the NHS billions and we also know that behaviours can be 'locked' in from a young age.
Successive governments have (partly driven by the 2012 Olympics) placed a lot of emphasis on sport. Although, I enjoy sport and have a boy who loves kicking/passing/whacking a ball, I also know that sport is not for everyone. So, while I've been supportive of government pushes for getting people involved in sport, I feel that attention could and should be given to other ways of getting people active and yes, that should mean high quality green spaces (hopefully hooching with wildlife) close to where people live.
We know that the best way to get active is through walking and the apt-named Dr William Bird, showed that people are more likely to remain active in beautiful or wildlife-rich environments. My daughter is a great example of this. She's not, to be fair, the greatest fan of walking to the shops or even a 'long' linear path on a nature reserve (shocking). But take her to an interesting park/reserve with twists, turns and new things round every corner and she'll keep going (mostly).
This isn't rocket science but it is interesting to note how few natural visitor attractions actually think about what makes young people keep moving. All of us, including governments (local and national) should be doing more to make it easy for all youngsters to get and remain active.
The RSPB has, for a number of years, actively called for children to have more contact with nature, not just for the sake of developing a sense of awe and wonder to protect it, but also because of the wider benefits. Our Every Child Outdoors report in 2010 brought together research on the diverse positive impacts for children of getting outdoors – for their physical health and mental wellbeing, as well as their education and development of social skills.
We know that the solutions to tackle childhood inactivity and lack of connection with nature are complex. A single piece of legislation is not going to turn the tables for future generations, and neither is one organisation going to be able to provide the answers (either in the local park, or in the corridors of Whitehall). That is why we are excited to be part of an innovative new movement – The Wild Network – which aims to reconnect children with nature, and is made up of organisations and individuals from all walks of life.
You will be hearing a lot more about the network later in the autumn, not least at the end of October when the brilliant new film, Project Wild Thing, screens in Picturehouse cinemas nationwide. Around that time, the RSPB will also be publishing our own new nationwide research findings on how connected to nature our children really are. We will be sharing the detailed numbers with you then, but much like the physical activity research, don't expect good news.
Until then, I hope you still have the opportunity to get out and about in the last of the summer's sun.
I can agree with Redkite completely. As a child I would much rather have walked for miles through a nature reserve than forever been the last one picked for a team in a school PE lesson.
I certainly think getting closer to nature for children has so much to offer in the way of physical activity and in many ways is preferable to sport. The problem with sport is it is usually very competitive even at a young age and requires a reasonable level of skill to compete effectively. For example ball games require good hand eye coordination. There is nothing, in my experience, that puts children off sport more than consistently being unable to catch a ball,coming in last or near last in a race, or always loosing.
Physical activities associated with getting closer to nature do not involve competitive situations or a need for a high level of physical skill so for the average child their is a lot to offer in this area without being measured against ones piers.