Why our nation's children are known as the 'Indoor Generation'

With the summer holidays having just ended, now may well be the exact time to remind families of the importance of spending more time outside, and teaching children to enjoy nature in their own back yard. There are so many benefits to a child being outdoors. 

Shockingly, our nation's 5-8 year-old children are becoming known as the 'Indoor Generation' with so many of them spending far too much time indoors watching TV and playing on computers and tablets, so much so in fact, they lack any basic knowledge about common garden flowers and vegetables. 

The study, conducted by UK-based garden furniture retailer Alfresia, found that a quarter of primary school children, spend less than six hours per week playing outside while at home, a quarter had never planted a plant, a fifth had never made mud pies and 1 in 10 had never made a daisy chain. 1/3 thought carrots grew on trees, almost half could not identify a parsnip, and a fifth thought daffodils were edible.

When asked about their attitudes to outdoor play, a quarter said they felt there were more fun things to do inside, while almost a fifth did not want to play in the garden in case they get dirty.

Craig Corbett, Product Director at Alfresia, said: “Unpredictable weather, paranoia about allergies and the lure of technology and computer games is clearly impacting on the amount of time kids spend outside. Children today seem to becoming something of an indoor generation, which is really sad. The level of knowledge about everyday plants and wildlife among the younger ones is really surprising.

FOOTNOTE
Clearly, Alfresia not only sells garden furniture - it also carries out surveys that are of interest!