The Evidence
We are just building up this page and are particularly indebted to one of our advisors, Stephen Moss, for access to the comprehensive body of research shown in his 2012 report 'Natural Childhood', commissioned by the National Trust. The items shown reflect a widespread and growing concern about natural childhood in the modern world.
‘The Gross National Product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education,
or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages;
the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor
our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country;
it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.’
Robert Kennedy, 1968
Child Wellbeing and Mental Health
The 2009 Good Childhood Inquiry found that our children are suffering an ‘epidemic of mental illness’, with significant increases between 1974 and 1999 in the number of children suffering from conduct, behavioural and emotional problems
Layard and Dunn (2009) A Good Childhood: Searching for values in a competitive age. Results of the independent Good Childhood Inquiry commissioned by The Children’s Society.
In 2007, UNICEF's child well-being report put the issue of child well-being firmly on the UK's political agenda. When compared with 20 other OECD countries, including substantially poorer ones, the UK was at the bottom of the league table of child well-being.Following on from the 2007 Report, and in partnership with IPSOS, they then carried in-depth comparison of over 250 children's experiences across three developed countries: the UK, Sweden and Spain. The children in all three countries told researchers that their happiness is dependent on having time with a stable family and plenty of things to do, especially outdoors, rather than on owning technology or branded clothes. Despite this, one of the most striking findings was that parents in the UK said they felt tremendous pressure from society to buy goods for their children; this pressure was felt most acutely in low-income homes.The research also showed that parents in the UK are committed to their children but they lose out on time together as a family due in part to long working hours. They often try to make up for this by buying their children gadgets and clothes. Consumer culture in the UK contrasts starkly with Sweden and Spain, where family time is prioritised, children and families are under less pressure to own material goods and children have greater access to activities out of the home.
http://www.unicef.org.uk/Latest/Publications/Ipsos-MORI-child-well-being/
– One in ten children aged between five and 16 have a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder. Four per cent had an emotional disorder (anxiety of depression), Six per cent had a conduct disorder (behavioural problem), two per cent had a hyperkinetic disorder (such as ADHD), one per cent had a less common disorder (such as autism, eating disorder or mutism) and around two per cent were found to have more than one type of disorder. Among 5-10 year olds, boys (10 per cent) were twice as likely to develop a mental disorder than girls (five per cent). This trend continued into the higher age bracket of 11-16 year olds with boys at a 13 per cent risk compared to girls standing a 10 per cent risk.
Office of National Statistics: Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, 2004.
Fundamental Facts - Mental Health Foundation, 2007
– One in 12 adolescents are self-harming.
The Lancet, Vol. 379, Issue 9812, pp.236–243 (2012)
About 35,000 children in England are being prescribed anti-depressants.
Chief Medical Officer (2004) At Least 5 a week: Evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health.
The UK has one of the highest rates of self-harm in Europe, at 400 per 100,000 population20% of children have a mental health problem in any given year, and about 10% at any one time.
National school age statistics on drugs use, still show that 25% of the UK’s school age children (11 – 15) have tried drugs – figures that are way higher than the European average – and that 10% of them are using drugs regularly.The last comparable survey figures for European school children under 15 also showed UK to have 13% of our under 13s having tried cannabis against a European average of 4%. It is also the case that, while the trend for schoolchildren’s drug use remained stable across Europe between 1999 and 2005, in the UK it doubled. Although UK school childrens’ drug of choice, cannabis, appears to have now stabilised, their cocaine consumption has been rising – unheard of elsewhere in Europe.
National Drug Prevention Alliance - June 12th, 2012 http://drugprevent.org.uk/ppp/2010/04/shocking-statistics-%E2%80%93-alcohol-and-youth-drug-use-2/
The UK retains its unenviable position in relation to binge drinking, intoxication and alcohol-related problems amongst teenagers. This problem is both serious and chronic. It is now to be hoped that the Government will prioritise policies that are effective to reduce heavy drinking, alcohol-related disorders and health problems amongst young people. Increasing numbers of young people are developing serious health problems related to drinking, with more and more dying prematurely due to their alcohol use.Professor Martin Plant - Hibell B, Gttormsson U, Ahlstrom S et al. The 2007 ESPAD Report: Alcohol and other drug use among students in 35 European countries http://www.espad.org/espad-reports
The 2009 Good Childhood Inquiry found that our children are suffering an ‘epidemic of mental illness’, with significant increases between 1974 and 1999 in the number of children suffering from conduct, behavioural and emotional problems
Layard and Dunn (2009) A Good Childhood: Searching for values in a competitive age. Results of the independent Good Childhood Inquiry commissioned by The Children’s Society.
In 2007, UNICEF's child well-being report put the issue of child well-being firmly on the UK's political agenda. When compared with 20 other OECD countries, including substantially poorer ones, the UK was at the bottom of the league table of child well-being.Following on from the 2007 Report, and in partnership with IPSOS, they then carried in-depth comparison of over 250 children's experiences across three developed countries: the UK, Sweden and Spain. The children in all three countries told researchers that their happiness is dependent on having time with a stable family and plenty of things to do, especially outdoors, rather than on owning technology or branded clothes. Despite this, one of the most striking findings was that parents in the UK said they felt tremendous pressure from society to buy goods for their children; this pressure was felt most acutely in low-income homes.The research also showed that parents in the UK are committed to their children but they lose out on time together as a family due in part to long working hours. They often try to make up for this by buying their children gadgets and clothes. Consumer culture in the UK contrasts starkly with Sweden and Spain, where family time is prioritised, children and families are under less pressure to own material goods and children have greater access to activities out of the home.
http://www.unicef.org.uk/Latest/Publications/Ipsos-MORI-child-well-being/
– One in ten children aged between five and 16 have a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder. Four per cent had an emotional disorder (anxiety of depression), Six per cent had a conduct disorder (behavioural problem), two per cent had a hyperkinetic disorder (such as ADHD), one per cent had a less common disorder (such as autism, eating disorder or mutism) and around two per cent were found to have more than one type of disorder. Among 5-10 year olds, boys (10 per cent) were twice as likely to develop a mental disorder than girls (five per cent). This trend continued into the higher age bracket of 11-16 year olds with boys at a 13 per cent risk compared to girls standing a 10 per cent risk.
Office of National Statistics: Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, 2004.
- Rates of mental health problems among children increase as they reach adolescence. Disorders affect 10.4% of boys aged 5-10, rising to 12.8% of boys aged 11-15, and 5.9% of girls aged 5-10, rising to 9.65% of girls aged 11-15.105
- In one study, 50-60% of adults with a diagnosed mental disorder had received a mental health diagnosis of some kind before the age of 15.106
- Among teenagers, rates of depression and anxiety have increased by 70% in the past 25 years.107
- Children of single-parent families are twice as likely to have a mental health problem as children of two- parent families (16%, compared with 8%). Also at higher risk are children in large families, children of poor and poorly-educated parents and those living in social sector housing.108
- 41% of British 11-15 year-olds who smoke regularly have a mental disorder, as well as 24% of those who drink alcohol at least once a week, and 49% of those who use cannabis at least once a month.139
Fundamental Facts - Mental Health Foundation, 2007
– One in 12 adolescents are self-harming.
The Lancet, Vol. 379, Issue 9812, pp.236–243 (2012)
About 35,000 children in England are being prescribed anti-depressants.
Chief Medical Officer (2004) At Least 5 a week: Evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health.
The UK has one of the highest rates of self-harm in Europe, at 400 per 100,000 population20% of children have a mental health problem in any given year, and about 10% at any one time.
National school age statistics on drugs use, still show that 25% of the UK’s school age children (11 – 15) have tried drugs – figures that are way higher than the European average – and that 10% of them are using drugs regularly.The last comparable survey figures for European school children under 15 also showed UK to have 13% of our under 13s having tried cannabis against a European average of 4%. It is also the case that, while the trend for schoolchildren’s drug use remained stable across Europe between 1999 and 2005, in the UK it doubled. Although UK school childrens’ drug of choice, cannabis, appears to have now stabilised, their cocaine consumption has been rising – unheard of elsewhere in Europe.
National Drug Prevention Alliance - June 12th, 2012 http://drugprevent.org.uk/ppp/2010/04/shocking-statistics-%E2%80%93-alcohol-and-youth-drug-use-2/
The UK retains its unenviable position in relation to binge drinking, intoxication and alcohol-related problems amongst teenagers. This problem is both serious and chronic. It is now to be hoped that the Government will prioritise policies that are effective to reduce heavy drinking, alcohol-related disorders and health problems amongst young people. Increasing numbers of young people are developing serious health problems related to drinking, with more and more dying prematurely due to their alcohol use.Professor Martin Plant - Hibell B, Gttormsson U, Ahlstrom S et al. The 2007 ESPAD Report: Alcohol and other drug use among students in 35 European countries http://www.espad.org/espad-reports
The Education System
2009 OECD PISA Survey
* Of the 65 countries included in the OECD survey, the UK is ranked eighth when it comes to spending per pupil. It's average position in the international league table, by contrast, is 23rd.
* The UK spends on average $60,000 on a pupil between the ages of 6 and 15, compared to $40,000 in Poland and Estonia. Nevertheless, Poland and Estonia are both above the UK in the league table.
* As a rule, countries with fewer-than-average discipline problems in the classroom perform better and countries with more perform worse. Within the UK, the 25% of pupils reporting the poorest disciplinary climate are 1.8 times as likely to be poor performers.
* Twenty-one per cent of UK headteachers report that the performance of pupils is hindered by the low expectations of teachers, compared to only six per cent of headteachers reporting a similar problem in Finland. In addition, 17% of UK headteachers claim pupil performance is being hindered by teachers "resisting change".
* Twenty-sevent per cent of UK pupils are in schools in which 48% of pupils are socio-economically disadvantaged. In these schools, disadvantaged children tend to do worse than expected, but advantaged students tend to do much worse than expected.
* Higher teacher salaries have a greater impact on learning outcomes than smaller class sizes.
* In the countries near the top of the PISA league tables, such as Finland and Korea, teachers are drawn from the top 10% of graduates.
School Starting Age
In England, while the official starting age remains five, a dramatic increase in the formalisation of nursery education is taking place alongside a structured Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. This, together with assessment in the form of the Foundation Stage Profile (FSP), makes our early years education system the most formalised in Europe. This is in direct contrast to most other EU countries where the starting age for compulsory primary school education is normally six (France, Germany and Italy) or seven (Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Denmark). The Netherlands is the only other EU country where pupils start school at five...
One of the key differences to our system lies in the content and assessment of this pre-school learning. In the very successful Finnish education system, pre-school education is based on the child’s own knowledge, skills and experiences. The focus is on play and ‘a positive outlook to life’. Pre-school education does not have an official evaluation system although special attention is paid to readiness for school life in terms of emotional, social and cognitive development. There is no formalised curriculum or assessment.
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/learning-about-education-from-our-european-neighbours-3203
There is a lack of conclusive evidence concerning the benefits of starting school at different ages. • The best available evidence suggests that teaching more formal skills early (in school) gives children an initial academic advantage, but that this advantage is not sustained in the longer term. • There are some suggestions that an early introduction to a formal curriculum may increase anxiety and have a negative impact on children’s self esteem and motivation to learn. The long-term impact of different early childhood curricula would seem to be an important topic for further research. ..'a later start does not appear to hold back children’s progress (although it is important not to forget the important contribution made by children’s experiences at home and in preschool). Certainly, there would appear to be no compelling educational rationale for a statutory school age of five or for the practice of admitting four-year-olds to school reception classes (our emphasis)Caroline Sharp NFER Conference Paper School Starting Age: European Policy and Recent Research
The Impact of Digital Technology
'The informal learning environments of television, video games, and the Internet are producing learners with a new profile of cognitive skills. This profile features widespread and sophisticated development of visual-spatial skills, such as iconic representation and spatial visualization. A pressing social problem is the prevalence of violent video games, leading to desensitization, aggressive behavior, and gender inequity in opportunities to develop visual-spatial skills. Formal education must adapt to these changes, taking advantage of new strengths in visual-spatial intelligence and compensating for new weaknesses in higher-order cognitive processes: abstract vocabulary, mindfulness, reflection, inductive problem solving, critical thinking, and imagination. These develop through the use of an older technology, reading, which, along with audio media such as radio, also stimulates imagination. Informal education therefore requires a balanced media diet using each technology's specific strengths in order to develop a complete profile of cognitive skills (*SCM emphasis)
'Abstract from Patricia M. Greenfield's article in Science Magazine - Jan 2009 Technology and Informal Education: What Is Taught, What Is Learned
'The past year has seen a surge of children with their own internet-enabled mobile phone with 61% saying they have one and especially those aged 11 and over where the figure rises to 77%. The mobile phone has now become the item they can least live without according to 30% followed by computers 23%, games consoles 17% and television 15%.
In 2009:
More than half of all children who access the internet had visited Facebook in the previous week and the website emerged as favourite for a quarter of children compared with YouTube for 12% and 5% who say they like Moshi Monsters best. Of those accessing Facebook, 39% were under 13 years of age.
Children are most likely to use media after school with 60% using the internet then, 59% are listening to music, 47% using their mobile phone, 47% watching the TV and 46% using a game console. On average they are engaging in more than three of the above activities at this time of day.
Surprisingly, given the choice children still prefer to communicate face-to-face with 53% saying it is their top communication channel for talking about something serious and 43% prefer face-to-face for a private chat versus 13% who say phone and 11% who say text.
The above research was carried out by Childwise interviewing 2770 children aged 5-16 in 108 schools across the UK.
– On average, Britain’s children watch more than 17 hours of television a week: that’s almost two-and-a-half hours per day, every single day of the year. Despite the rival attractions of the Internet, this is up by 12% since 2007.
OFCOM October 2011: reported in Guardian 25 October 2011 www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/25/teenagers-lose-tv-internet-mobile
– British children are also spending more than 20 hours a week online, mostly on social networking sites.
Institute for Public Policy Research, March 2008 www.ippr.org/press-releases/111/2598/a-generation-of-youth-are-being-raised-online
– As children grow older, their ‘electronic addictions’ increase. Britain’s 11–15-year-olds spend about half their waking lives in front of a screen: 7.5 hours a day, an increase of 40% in a decade.
Sigman, A. (2007) ‘Visual voodoo: the biological impact of watching television’. Biologist 54 (I) 12-17; BMRB International (British Market Research Bureaux). (2004) ‘Increasing Screen Time is Leading to Inactivity of 11-15s’. Youth TGI Study. Both quoted in Sigman, A. (2007) Agricultural Literacy: Giving concrete children food for thought. www.face-online.org.uk/resources/news/Agricultural%20Literacy.pdf
The growth of virtual, as opposed to reality-based, play is, not surprisingly, having a profound effect on children’s lives; indeed, it has
been called ‘the extinction of experience’.Pyle, R. (2003) ‘Nature Matrix: reconnecting people and nature’. Oryx 37(2): 206–214.
Researchers in the States who reviewed 72 studies over the period between 1979 and 2009 found that children born after the millenium scored up to 40 percent lower on tests of empathy than did previous generations. The biggest drop in empathy scores occurred after the year 2000.http://z6mag.com/technology/is-technology-killing-kindness-in-kids-1610293.html
'Abstract from Patricia M. Greenfield's article in Science Magazine - Jan 2009 Technology and Informal Education: What Is Taught, What Is Learned
'The past year has seen a surge of children with their own internet-enabled mobile phone with 61% saying they have one and especially those aged 11 and over where the figure rises to 77%. The mobile phone has now become the item they can least live without according to 30% followed by computers 23%, games consoles 17% and television 15%.
In 2009:
- Pre-school children spent an average of 2.2 hours a day watching TV, with viewing peaking in the early morning - 67% watch TV before 9am
- One in five children aged 0-4 access the Internet, and 30% use a games console
- Four in ten pre-schoolers go swimming
- 20% of 0-4s can write their own name, whilst 31% can use a computer mouse
More than half of all children who access the internet had visited Facebook in the previous week and the website emerged as favourite for a quarter of children compared with YouTube for 12% and 5% who say they like Moshi Monsters best. Of those accessing Facebook, 39% were under 13 years of age.
Children are most likely to use media after school with 60% using the internet then, 59% are listening to music, 47% using their mobile phone, 47% watching the TV and 46% using a game console. On average they are engaging in more than three of the above activities at this time of day.
Surprisingly, given the choice children still prefer to communicate face-to-face with 53% saying it is their top communication channel for talking about something serious and 43% prefer face-to-face for a private chat versus 13% who say phone and 11% who say text.
The above research was carried out by Childwise interviewing 2770 children aged 5-16 in 108 schools across the UK.
– On average, Britain’s children watch more than 17 hours of television a week: that’s almost two-and-a-half hours per day, every single day of the year. Despite the rival attractions of the Internet, this is up by 12% since 2007.
OFCOM October 2011: reported in Guardian 25 October 2011 www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/25/teenagers-lose-tv-internet-mobile
– British children are also spending more than 20 hours a week online, mostly on social networking sites.
Institute for Public Policy Research, March 2008 www.ippr.org/press-releases/111/2598/a-generation-of-youth-are-being-raised-online
– As children grow older, their ‘electronic addictions’ increase. Britain’s 11–15-year-olds spend about half their waking lives in front of a screen: 7.5 hours a day, an increase of 40% in a decade.
Sigman, A. (2007) ‘Visual voodoo: the biological impact of watching television’. Biologist 54 (I) 12-17; BMRB International (British Market Research Bureaux). (2004) ‘Increasing Screen Time is Leading to Inactivity of 11-15s’. Youth TGI Study. Both quoted in Sigman, A. (2007) Agricultural Literacy: Giving concrete children food for thought. www.face-online.org.uk/resources/news/Agricultural%20Literacy.pdf
The growth of virtual, as opposed to reality-based, play is, not surprisingly, having a profound effect on children’s lives; indeed, it has
been called ‘the extinction of experience’.Pyle, R. (2003) ‘Nature Matrix: reconnecting people and nature’. Oryx 37(2): 206–214.
Researchers in the States who reviewed 72 studies over the period between 1979 and 2009 found that children born after the millenium scored up to 40 percent lower on tests of empathy than did previous generations. The biggest drop in empathy scores occurred after the year 2000.http://z6mag.com/technology/is-technology-killing-kindness-in-kids-1610293.html
Image from the Childwise Monitor Survey 2011-2012
Commercialisation
Girls as young as five now routinely worry about their weight and appearance while more than half the entire UK population is grappling with mental and physical problems relating to negative body image, according to a parliamentary report published on Wednesday 30th May, 2012.
There is evidence that society is becoming increasingly commercialised (DCSF/DCMS, 2009; Phoenix, 2011). The market for goods and services for children is large and growing – estimated to be in the order of £100 billion a year if childcare and education is included – and there is some evidence that children’s influence on family spending is increasing, as well as their own spending power (DCSF/DCMS, 2009). It is not surprising then if companies choose to appeal directly to children as consumers.Marketing magazine, 2011
From an early age, children are able to recognise the names of familiar people and objects as part of their normal development. It is therefore to be expected that if they repeatedly see a brand logo or hear its name they will be able to recognise and name it, especially the
brands of companies popular with their family. Research in the Netherlands showed that 2 and 3 year-olds could recognise eight out of the 12 brands shown to them (Valkenburg and Buijzen, 2005). This means that even companies not overtly marketing to children can
benefit from having their brands prominently displayed and easily recognised by the potential customers of the future.
Children are also living increasingly ‘media-saturated’ lives, inevitably being exposed to an increasing volume of advertising and marketing as they watch television, go online, use mobile phones and smart phones, or play video games
all the above from the Bailey Review - Letting Children be Children
A March 2012 report from Alcohol Concern shows that children as young as 10 in are more familiar with some leading alcohol brands and adverts than those for popular foods and snacks http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/news-centre/press-releases/alcohol-marketing-messages-getting-through-to-children
In 2011, a cross-cultural ethnographic study by UNICEF, comparing childhood in the UK, Spain and Sweden, found that British parents are trapping their children in a cycle of ‘compulsive consumerism’.UNICEF/Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute (2011) Children’s Well-being in UK, Sweden and Spain: The Role of Inequality and Materialism.
www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publications/UNICEFIpsosMori_childwellbeing_reportsummary.pdf
The study, triggered by an earlier quantitative study which placed the UK bottom for childhood well-being out of all 21 nations surveyed,58 heard remarkably constant feedback from children in all three countries: Children in all three countries told researchers that their happiness is dependent on having time with a stable family and plenty of things to do, especially outdoors, rather than on owning technology or branded clothes. Despite this, one of the most striking findings is that parents in the UK said they felt tremendous pressure from society to buy material goods for their children; this pressure was felt most acutely in low-income homes.
www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publications/UNICEFIpsosMori_childwellbeing_reportsummary.pdf
There is evidence that society is becoming increasingly commercialised (DCSF/DCMS, 2009; Phoenix, 2011). The market for goods and services for children is large and growing – estimated to be in the order of £100 billion a year if childcare and education is included – and there is some evidence that children’s influence on family spending is increasing, as well as their own spending power (DCSF/DCMS, 2009). It is not surprising then if companies choose to appeal directly to children as consumers.Marketing magazine, 2011
From an early age, children are able to recognise the names of familiar people and objects as part of their normal development. It is therefore to be expected that if they repeatedly see a brand logo or hear its name they will be able to recognise and name it, especially the
brands of companies popular with their family. Research in the Netherlands showed that 2 and 3 year-olds could recognise eight out of the 12 brands shown to them (Valkenburg and Buijzen, 2005). This means that even companies not overtly marketing to children can
benefit from having their brands prominently displayed and easily recognised by the potential customers of the future.
Children are also living increasingly ‘media-saturated’ lives, inevitably being exposed to an increasing volume of advertising and marketing as they watch television, go online, use mobile phones and smart phones, or play video games
all the above from the Bailey Review - Letting Children be Children
A March 2012 report from Alcohol Concern shows that children as young as 10 in are more familiar with some leading alcohol brands and adverts than those for popular foods and snacks http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/news-centre/press-releases/alcohol-marketing-messages-getting-through-to-children
In 2011, a cross-cultural ethnographic study by UNICEF, comparing childhood in the UK, Spain and Sweden, found that British parents are trapping their children in a cycle of ‘compulsive consumerism’.UNICEF/Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute (2011) Children’s Well-being in UK, Sweden and Spain: The Role of Inequality and Materialism.
www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publications/UNICEFIpsosMori_childwellbeing_reportsummary.pdf
The study, triggered by an earlier quantitative study which placed the UK bottom for childhood well-being out of all 21 nations surveyed,58 heard remarkably constant feedback from children in all three countries: Children in all three countries told researchers that their happiness is dependent on having time with a stable family and plenty of things to do, especially outdoors, rather than on owning technology or branded clothes. Despite this, one of the most striking findings is that parents in the UK said they felt tremendous pressure from society to buy material goods for their children; this pressure was felt most acutely in low-income homes.
www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publications/UNICEFIpsosMori_childwellbeing_reportsummary.pdf
Contact with Nature
Fewer than a quarter of children regularly use their local ‘patch of nature’, compared to over half of all adults when they were children.
Natural England (2009) Childhood and Nature: a survey on changing relationships with nature across generations. www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/Childhood%20and%20Nature%20Survey_tcm6-10515.pdf
Children spend so little time outdoors that they are unfamiliar with some of our commonest wild creatures. According to a 2008 National
Trust survey, one in three could not identify a magpie; half could not tell the difference between a bee and a wasp; yet nine out of ten could
recognise a Dalek.
National Trust (2008) Wildlife alien to indoor children. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/what-we-do/news/archive/view-page/item737221/
There is evidence to suggest that this sedentary, indoor lifestyle is having profound consequences for our children’s health, especially with regard to what has been called the ‘modern epidemic’ of obesity: Around three in ten children in England aged between two and 15 are currently either overweight or obese. The proportion classified as obese increased dramatically from 1995 to 2008: rising from 11% to almost 17% in boys, and from 12% to 15% in girls. If current trends continue, by 2050 more than half of all adults and a quarter of all children will be obese.
Health Survey for England 2008: Physical Activity and Fitness – Volume 1. The NHS Information Centre, 2009. www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/hse08physicalactivity Quoted in Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England 2010, NHS 2010.
www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/opad10/Statistics_on_Obesity_Physical_Activity_and_Diet_England_2010.pdf
Recent research for Natural England has shown that where people have good access to green space they are 24% more likely to be physically
active. The research concludes that if the population were afforded equitable good access to green space, the estimated saving to the health
service could be in the order of £2.1 billion per annum in England alone.
Natural England Technical Information Note TIN055 – An estimate of the economic and health value and cost effectiveness of the expanded WHI scheme 2009. www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/TIN055_tcm6-12519.pdf
Natural England (2009) Childhood and Nature: a survey on changing relationships with nature across generations. www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/Childhood%20and%20Nature%20Survey_tcm6-10515.pdf
Children spend so little time outdoors that they are unfamiliar with some of our commonest wild creatures. According to a 2008 National
Trust survey, one in three could not identify a magpie; half could not tell the difference between a bee and a wasp; yet nine out of ten could
recognise a Dalek.
National Trust (2008) Wildlife alien to indoor children. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/what-we-do/news/archive/view-page/item737221/
There is evidence to suggest that this sedentary, indoor lifestyle is having profound consequences for our children’s health, especially with regard to what has been called the ‘modern epidemic’ of obesity: Around three in ten children in England aged between two and 15 are currently either overweight or obese. The proportion classified as obese increased dramatically from 1995 to 2008: rising from 11% to almost 17% in boys, and from 12% to 15% in girls. If current trends continue, by 2050 more than half of all adults and a quarter of all children will be obese.
Health Survey for England 2008: Physical Activity and Fitness – Volume 1. The NHS Information Centre, 2009. www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/hse08physicalactivity Quoted in Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England 2010, NHS 2010.
www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/opad10/Statistics_on_Obesity_Physical_Activity_and_Diet_England_2010.pdf
Recent research for Natural England has shown that where people have good access to green space they are 24% more likely to be physically
active. The research concludes that if the population were afforded equitable good access to green space, the estimated saving to the health
service could be in the order of £2.1 billion per annum in England alone.
Natural England Technical Information Note TIN055 – An estimate of the economic and health value and cost effectiveness of the expanded WHI scheme 2009. www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/TIN055_tcm6-12519.pdf
Family Life
In a single generation since the 1970s, children’s ‘radius of activity’ – the area around their home where they are allowed to roam unsupervised – has declined by almost 90%. In 1971, 80% of seven- and eight-year-olds walked to school, often alone or with their friends, whereas two decades later fewer than 10% did so – almost all accompanied by their parents.
Hillman, M., Adams, J., and Whitelegg, J. One False Move: A Study of Children’s Independent Mobility. London: Policy Studies Institute, 1990.
Running errands used to be a way of life; yet today, two out of three ten-year-olds have never been to a shop or park by themselves.Children’s Society (2007) Good Childhood Inquiry. www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-views/press-release/childhood-friendships-risk-reveals-new-survey
A poll commissioned by the Children’s Society revealed that almost half of all adults questioned thought the earliest age that a child should be allowed out unsupervised was 14 – a far cry from just a generation ago, when ten-year-olds would have had more freedom than a teenager does nowadays.Children’s Society (2007) Good Childhood Inquiry. www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-views/press-release/childhood-friendships-risk-reveals-new-survey
A survey from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) says that the more often children have dinners with their parents, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs, and that parental engagement fostered around the dinner table is one of the most potent tools to help parents raise healthy, drug-free children. The CASA found kids that have dinner with their parents fewer than three times a week, are two times more likely to drink or smoke tobacco, and are one and a half times more likely to smoke marijuana.
When looking for the reasons why today’s children no longer engage with the natural world, many people pin the blame firmly on this screen-
based lifestyle. But we must not forget that technology brings many benefits to children, not least the ability to access information about the natural world (SCM emphasis). And while it would be easy to draw the conclusion that the allure of this screen-based entertainment is the main reason why children rarely go outdoors, it may be a symptom of what Richard Louv refers to as ‘well-meaning, protective house arrest’.Stephen Moss quoting Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, p.34.
Hillman, M., Adams, J., and Whitelegg, J. One False Move: A Study of Children’s Independent Mobility. London: Policy Studies Institute, 1990.
Running errands used to be a way of life; yet today, two out of three ten-year-olds have never been to a shop or park by themselves.Children’s Society (2007) Good Childhood Inquiry. www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-views/press-release/childhood-friendships-risk-reveals-new-survey
A poll commissioned by the Children’s Society revealed that almost half of all adults questioned thought the earliest age that a child should be allowed out unsupervised was 14 – a far cry from just a generation ago, when ten-year-olds would have had more freedom than a teenager does nowadays.Children’s Society (2007) Good Childhood Inquiry. www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-views/press-release/childhood-friendships-risk-reveals-new-survey
A survey from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) says that the more often children have dinners with their parents, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs, and that parental engagement fostered around the dinner table is one of the most potent tools to help parents raise healthy, drug-free children. The CASA found kids that have dinner with their parents fewer than three times a week, are two times more likely to drink or smoke tobacco, and are one and a half times more likely to smoke marijuana.
When looking for the reasons why today’s children no longer engage with the natural world, many people pin the blame firmly on this screen-
based lifestyle. But we must not forget that technology brings many benefits to children, not least the ability to access information about the natural world (SCM emphasis). And while it would be easy to draw the conclusion that the allure of this screen-based entertainment is the main reason why children rarely go outdoors, it may be a symptom of what Richard Louv refers to as ‘well-meaning, protective house arrest’.Stephen Moss quoting Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, p.34.
Aversion to Risk
Childhood is being undermined by adults’ increasing aversion to risk and by the intrusion of that fear into every aspect of their lives.
Lord Digby Jones, former chairman of the CBI: If we never took a risk our children would not learn to walk, climb stairs, ride a bicycle or swim; business would not develop innovative new products… scientists would not experiment and discover, we would not have great art, literature, music and architecture.
Jones, D., quoted in Cotton Wool Kids – Issues Paper 7. Releasing the potential for children to take risks and innovate. HTI, London.
www.hti.org.uk/pdfs/pu/IssuesPaper7.pdf
Tim Gill, Author of No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk-averse Society: The weight of evidence for the benefits of getting children back to nature
is, as we have seen, overwhelming. The consensus that ‘something must be done’ is also there, right across the social and political spectrum. We even have a government White Paper, The Natural Choice, which makes several recommendations explicitly designed to reconnect our nation’s children with the natural world, including:
– A recognition that we need to exploit ‘nature’s health service’, in particular relating to children’s physical and mental health.
– A specific pledge to increase outdoor learning, by offering practical support to schools and reducing ‘red tape’.
– Creating better neighbourhood access to nature, both locally and in the wider countryside, in order to allow children (and adults) to
experience its benefits.
Gill, T. (2009) ‘Now for free-range childhood’, in Guardian, 2 April 2009. www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/02/children-safety
Nowadays children are rarely allowed to venture outdoors. In 2007, the Daily Mail reported on a single Sheffield family who neatly demonstrated this.Great grandfather George, brought up in the 1920s, had almost unlimited freedom as an eight-year-old, regularly walking six miles to go fishing on his own. But 80 years later, his great-grandson Edward enjoyed none of this freedom: he was taken to and from school by car, and was only allowed to roam within a radius of 300 yards from his home. Daily Mail, 15 June 2007: How children lost the right to roam in four generations. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-lost-right-roam-generations.html
Mayer Hillman’s study One False Move found that in 1971, 80% of seven- and eight-year-old children went to school on their own;
by 1990 only 9% were making the journey unaccompanied.Hillman et al concluded that road accidents involving children have declined not because the roads have become safer, but because children are no longer exposed to the dangers they pose. Hillman, M., Adams, J, Whitelegg, J. (1990) One False Move. Policy Studies Institute. www.psi.org.uk/publications/publication.asp?publication_id=790
In 2004, the children’s charity Barnardo’s joined forces with the pressure group Transport 2000 (now Campaign for Better Transport) to produce
a report: Stop, look and listen: children talk about traffic.This contained powerful first-hand testimony from children on the way traffic has limited their freedoms. In a hard-hitting conclusion, the authors called on the government to make our streets safer, so that children could play outdoors again.
Transport 2000 / Barnardo’s (2004) Stop, look and listen: children talk about traffic.www.barnardos.org.uk/traffic.pdf
Traffic represents a physical risk to children that should never be understated. But there are other forms of risk that are worth taking.
Giving children the freedom to explore natural environments inevitably incurs an element of danger. Yet we should put this in perspective: three times as many children are taken to hospital each year after falling out of bed, as from falling out of trees. Play England (2008), quoted in the Observer 3 August 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/03/schools.childrenIronically, by far the most dangerous place for a child to be is at home:
– Every year, one million children aged 14 or under go to A&E departments: 30,000 with symptoms of poisoning, mostly from
domestic cleaning products, and 50,000 with burns or scalds.
– Half a million babies and toddlers are injured each year at home, 35,000 from falling down stairs.
– On average, ten children die each year from falling through a window or off a balcony, while house fires cause almost half of all fatal accidents
to children.
All figures from Child Alert website: www.childalert.co.uk/safety.php?tab=Safety
Tim Gill has called for ‘the wholesale rejection of the philosophy of protection’. In its place, he argues, we should embrace risk, uncertainty
and challenge – even danger – as essential ingredients of a rounded childhood.
Gill, Tim (2011)The end of zero risk in childhood? Guardian 3 July 2011. www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/03/end-zero-risk-childhood
Launching its ‘Get a Life’ campaign in August 2006, the Health and Safety Executive chairman Bill Callaghan accused over-zealous ‘pedants’ of using health and safety as an excuse to ban perfectly normal activities, including playing conkers, and urged those in authority to allow ‘sensible risks’.
Health and Safety Executive (2006) press release: Get a life. www.hse.gov.uk/press/2006/c06021.htm
In July 2011 his successor Judith Hackett reinforced this message: what she calls ‘the creeping culture of risk aversion’ is, she believes, harming
children’s preparation for adult life.
Judith Hackett, quoted in the Daily Telegraph 1 July 2011. www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8612145/Health-and-safety-fears-are-taking-the-joy- out-of-playtime.html
There can be no doubt that most parents’ greatest fear is stranger danger. Fear of strangers is likely to be hard-wired into our consciousness, having evolved as a strategy for survival amongst our distant ancestors. But Richard Louv suggests ‘the bogeyman syndrome’ may have become counter-productive today: Fear is the most potent force that prevents parents from allowing their children the freedom they themselves enjoyed when they were young.
Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods, p.123.
Ironically, the greatest dangers facing Britain’s children are not outside in the woods and fields, but in the very place their parents regard as a safe haven: their bedrooms. The vast majority of sexual abuse is carried out by relatives of the victim: parents or step-parents, uncles or ‘family friends’. Even when a stranger is involved, they often initially approach their victim via Internet chatrooms, posing as teenagers themselves. With
three out of four 8–11-year-olds, and two out of three 5–7-year-olds, now regularly using the Internet, more – and younger – children may
inadvertently putting themselves at risk.
Ofcom (2009) UK children’s media literacy: 2009 interim report. www.stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/full_report.pdf
When it comes to the most serious cases of all, involving the abduction and murder of a child, the statistics are revealing. On average
55 children in England and Wales are unlawfully killed each year. But eight out of nine victims are less than one year old, two out of three are under five, and the vast majority are killed by either a parent or step-parent – mostly in the family home.NSPCC (2012) Child killings in England and Wales: Explaining the statistics. www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/briefings/child_killings_in_england_and_wales_wda67213.html
According to a 2008 study by Play England, half of all children have been stopped from climbing trees, one in five banned from playing
conkers, and almost the same number told they cannot play games of tag.
Play England (2008), quoted in the Observer 3 August 2008. www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/03/schools.children
As Tim Gill observes, activities that earlier generations of children enjoyed as part of growing up are now being re-labelled as ‘troubling’ or ‘dangerous’.Tim Gill, quoted in the Observer 1 February 2009. www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/01/child-welfare-inquiry
Because children are no longer allowed to venture outdoors, any who do stand out from the crowd. So whereas their behaviour would once have been accepted, it is increasingly regarded as abnormal and delinquent, leading to what Richard Louv has called ‘the criminalisation of natural play’.
Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods, p.27.
Cases include a family with three young daughters being reprimanded by police for picking daffodils;a group of youngsters being given anti-social behaviour warnings for ‘making too much noise’ while playing in a park; and a mother fined £75 because her little boy had thrown bread to ducks on their local park pond – a fine that was, after a storm of protest, withdrawn.
Men and children
In the last few decades the relationship between men and children in the UK has been vastly compromised. Most men now think twice before helping a young child in the street, if a man wants to be an early-years teacher he is immediately viewed with suspicion and the kind of loving and spontaneous affection and hugs that you see other places in Europe are simply not evident outside of the family group. In 2009 a male primary school teacher was dismissed because he let his children hug him and was told that he had ‘failed to maintain physical boundaries with female pupils’.
Daily Telegraph - Teacher banned for letting pupils hug him - Sept 18th, 2011
According to recent statistics one in four primary schools in England still has no male registered teacher and only 12% of primary school teachers are male, compared with 38% of secondary school teachers. In September 2011 there were just 48 male teachers in state nurseries. Education Secretary Michael Gove has been quoted as saying said more male teachers were needed but they were put off by worries that teacher-pupil contact was a "legal minefield".http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14748273
Lord Digby Jones, former chairman of the CBI: If we never took a risk our children would not learn to walk, climb stairs, ride a bicycle or swim; business would not develop innovative new products… scientists would not experiment and discover, we would not have great art, literature, music and architecture.
Jones, D., quoted in Cotton Wool Kids – Issues Paper 7. Releasing the potential for children to take risks and innovate. HTI, London.
www.hti.org.uk/pdfs/pu/IssuesPaper7.pdf
Tim Gill, Author of No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk-averse Society: The weight of evidence for the benefits of getting children back to nature
is, as we have seen, overwhelming. The consensus that ‘something must be done’ is also there, right across the social and political spectrum. We even have a government White Paper, The Natural Choice, which makes several recommendations explicitly designed to reconnect our nation’s children with the natural world, including:
– A recognition that we need to exploit ‘nature’s health service’, in particular relating to children’s physical and mental health.
– A specific pledge to increase outdoor learning, by offering practical support to schools and reducing ‘red tape’.
– Creating better neighbourhood access to nature, both locally and in the wider countryside, in order to allow children (and adults) to
experience its benefits.
Gill, T. (2009) ‘Now for free-range childhood’, in Guardian, 2 April 2009. www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/02/children-safety
Nowadays children are rarely allowed to venture outdoors. In 2007, the Daily Mail reported on a single Sheffield family who neatly demonstrated this.Great grandfather George, brought up in the 1920s, had almost unlimited freedom as an eight-year-old, regularly walking six miles to go fishing on his own. But 80 years later, his great-grandson Edward enjoyed none of this freedom: he was taken to and from school by car, and was only allowed to roam within a radius of 300 yards from his home. Daily Mail, 15 June 2007: How children lost the right to roam in four generations. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-lost-right-roam-generations.html
Mayer Hillman’s study One False Move found that in 1971, 80% of seven- and eight-year-old children went to school on their own;
by 1990 only 9% were making the journey unaccompanied.Hillman et al concluded that road accidents involving children have declined not because the roads have become safer, but because children are no longer exposed to the dangers they pose. Hillman, M., Adams, J, Whitelegg, J. (1990) One False Move. Policy Studies Institute. www.psi.org.uk/publications/publication.asp?publication_id=790
In 2004, the children’s charity Barnardo’s joined forces with the pressure group Transport 2000 (now Campaign for Better Transport) to produce
a report: Stop, look and listen: children talk about traffic.This contained powerful first-hand testimony from children on the way traffic has limited their freedoms. In a hard-hitting conclusion, the authors called on the government to make our streets safer, so that children could play outdoors again.
Transport 2000 / Barnardo’s (2004) Stop, look and listen: children talk about traffic.www.barnardos.org.uk/traffic.pdf
Traffic represents a physical risk to children that should never be understated. But there are other forms of risk that are worth taking.
Giving children the freedom to explore natural environments inevitably incurs an element of danger. Yet we should put this in perspective: three times as many children are taken to hospital each year after falling out of bed, as from falling out of trees. Play England (2008), quoted in the Observer 3 August 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/03/schools.childrenIronically, by far the most dangerous place for a child to be is at home:
– Every year, one million children aged 14 or under go to A&E departments: 30,000 with symptoms of poisoning, mostly from
domestic cleaning products, and 50,000 with burns or scalds.
– Half a million babies and toddlers are injured each year at home, 35,000 from falling down stairs.
– On average, ten children die each year from falling through a window or off a balcony, while house fires cause almost half of all fatal accidents
to children.
All figures from Child Alert website: www.childalert.co.uk/safety.php?tab=Safety
Tim Gill has called for ‘the wholesale rejection of the philosophy of protection’. In its place, he argues, we should embrace risk, uncertainty
and challenge – even danger – as essential ingredients of a rounded childhood.
Gill, Tim (2011)The end of zero risk in childhood? Guardian 3 July 2011. www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/03/end-zero-risk-childhood
Launching its ‘Get a Life’ campaign in August 2006, the Health and Safety Executive chairman Bill Callaghan accused over-zealous ‘pedants’ of using health and safety as an excuse to ban perfectly normal activities, including playing conkers, and urged those in authority to allow ‘sensible risks’.
Health and Safety Executive (2006) press release: Get a life. www.hse.gov.uk/press/2006/c06021.htm
In July 2011 his successor Judith Hackett reinforced this message: what she calls ‘the creeping culture of risk aversion’ is, she believes, harming
children’s preparation for adult life.
Judith Hackett, quoted in the Daily Telegraph 1 July 2011. www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8612145/Health-and-safety-fears-are-taking-the-joy- out-of-playtime.html
There can be no doubt that most parents’ greatest fear is stranger danger. Fear of strangers is likely to be hard-wired into our consciousness, having evolved as a strategy for survival amongst our distant ancestors. But Richard Louv suggests ‘the bogeyman syndrome’ may have become counter-productive today: Fear is the most potent force that prevents parents from allowing their children the freedom they themselves enjoyed when they were young.
Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods, p.123.
Ironically, the greatest dangers facing Britain’s children are not outside in the woods and fields, but in the very place their parents regard as a safe haven: their bedrooms. The vast majority of sexual abuse is carried out by relatives of the victim: parents or step-parents, uncles or ‘family friends’. Even when a stranger is involved, they often initially approach their victim via Internet chatrooms, posing as teenagers themselves. With
three out of four 8–11-year-olds, and two out of three 5–7-year-olds, now regularly using the Internet, more – and younger – children may
inadvertently putting themselves at risk.
Ofcom (2009) UK children’s media literacy: 2009 interim report. www.stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/full_report.pdf
When it comes to the most serious cases of all, involving the abduction and murder of a child, the statistics are revealing. On average
55 children in England and Wales are unlawfully killed each year. But eight out of nine victims are less than one year old, two out of three are under five, and the vast majority are killed by either a parent or step-parent – mostly in the family home.NSPCC (2012) Child killings in England and Wales: Explaining the statistics. www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/briefings/child_killings_in_england_and_wales_wda67213.html
According to a 2008 study by Play England, half of all children have been stopped from climbing trees, one in five banned from playing
conkers, and almost the same number told they cannot play games of tag.
Play England (2008), quoted in the Observer 3 August 2008. www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/03/schools.children
As Tim Gill observes, activities that earlier generations of children enjoyed as part of growing up are now being re-labelled as ‘troubling’ or ‘dangerous’.Tim Gill, quoted in the Observer 1 February 2009. www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/01/child-welfare-inquiry
Because children are no longer allowed to venture outdoors, any who do stand out from the crowd. So whereas their behaviour would once have been accepted, it is increasingly regarded as abnormal and delinquent, leading to what Richard Louv has called ‘the criminalisation of natural play’.
Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods, p.27.
Cases include a family with three young daughters being reprimanded by police for picking daffodils;a group of youngsters being given anti-social behaviour warnings for ‘making too much noise’ while playing in a park; and a mother fined £75 because her little boy had thrown bread to ducks on their local park pond – a fine that was, after a storm of protest, withdrawn.
Men and children
In the last few decades the relationship between men and children in the UK has been vastly compromised. Most men now think twice before helping a young child in the street, if a man wants to be an early-years teacher he is immediately viewed with suspicion and the kind of loving and spontaneous affection and hugs that you see other places in Europe are simply not evident outside of the family group. In 2009 a male primary school teacher was dismissed because he let his children hug him and was told that he had ‘failed to maintain physical boundaries with female pupils’.
Daily Telegraph - Teacher banned for letting pupils hug him - Sept 18th, 2011
According to recent statistics one in four primary schools in England still has no male registered teacher and only 12% of primary school teachers are male, compared with 38% of secondary school teachers. In September 2011 there were just 48 male teachers in state nurseries. Education Secretary Michael Gove has been quoted as saying said more male teachers were needed but they were put off by worries that teacher-pupil contact was a "legal minefield".http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14748273
