A Child's Natural Need To Roam

A Child's Natural Need To Roam

How children lost the right to roam in four generations -
By David Derbyshire - In The Daily Mail

Here is a good article about the shrinking range of mobility children have had over the past century and how Dr William Bird, the health adviser to Natural England, believes this has a negative impact on children's long-term mental health.

"If children haven't had contact with nature, they never develop a relationship with natural environment and they are unable to use it to cope with stress," he said.

"Studies have shown that people deprived of contact with nature were at greater risk of depression and anxiety. Children are getting less and less unsupervised time in the natural environment.

"They need time playing in the countryside, in parks and in gardens where they can explore, dig up the ground and build dens."

The report, published by Natural England and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, also found that children's behaviour and school work improve if their playground has grassy areas, ponds and trees.

The article provides a map showing the comparitive range of mobility four generations of children have had in their family history. The message is that reduced access to free play in nature has a negative consequence on the health and creativity of children and their relation to nature. For more on this subject see the related blog entry: Nature Deficit Disorder: Children Need To Reclaim Outdoor Play.

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