We have been in contact with Jan for ages, and it is with great pleasure that we welcome her aboard, not only as a guest blogger, but as a Co. Durham representative for the CFZ. With Davy Curtis already at the helm in the country, the two of them will make a dream team par excellence... When this latest missive arrived in my email inbox this evening, I replied to it in just three words "RIGHT ON SISTER!"
My childhood was spent in the local wilderness. I grew up knowing every inch of the woods near my home.... indeed I was often found climbing trees or exploring the sand quarry when I really should have been in school. But nature was my teacher. I learned the names of birds along with their songs. I learned patience as I watched the squirrels in the treetops and the badgers playing in their woodland paradise. I learned DIY skills from building tree houses.
I knew where the robin nested... where the honeysuckle bloomed... where the lizard basked in the summer. I grew up surrounded by nature, and that is why it is still my passion today.
But what of today’s children? Recent studies have shown that British kids are disconnected from nature. Ferried to and from school in the family car they miss out on the daily walk that many of us used to take. After school, today’s child seems to spend more and more time in the virtual reality of the personal computer. In these days, when every child has a mobile phone, it’s no longer safe for them to walk the dog alone, or have a bike ride with friends down to the river. Camping is definitely out, for who knows what dangers are out there?
In the days long ago, when the world was green, I’d stay out of doors from dawn to dusk all summer long – getting home dirty, tired and happy with tales of water voles and weasels. My parents may have wondered where I was, but they never sent out a search party. I didn’t have a mobile phone, and didn’t feel the need for one, even if they existed.
Sir David Attenborough said recently that nobody is going to protect the natural world of tomorrow unless the children of today understand it. He’s right. Let’s do what we can to get our kids and our grandkids off those computer chairs and on to their bikes... or onto their ponies... or simply walking the dog. Enthuse them. Baptise them in the holy fire that is Nature. And let’s lay the foundations for a better world tomorrow.
I knew where the robin nested... where the honeysuckle bloomed... where the lizard basked in the summer. I grew up surrounded by nature, and that is why it is still my passion today.
But what of today’s children? Recent studies have shown that British kids are disconnected from nature. Ferried to and from school in the family car they miss out on the daily walk that many of us used to take. After school, today’s child seems to spend more and more time in the virtual reality of the personal computer. In these days, when every child has a mobile phone, it’s no longer safe for them to walk the dog alone, or have a bike ride with friends down to the river. Camping is definitely out, for who knows what dangers are out there?
In the days long ago, when the world was green, I’d stay out of doors from dawn to dusk all summer long – getting home dirty, tired and happy with tales of water voles and weasels. My parents may have wondered where I was, but they never sent out a search party. I didn’t have a mobile phone, and didn’t feel the need for one, even if they existed.
Sir David Attenborough said recently that nobody is going to protect the natural world of tomorrow unless the children of today understand it. He’s right. Let’s do what we can to get our kids and our grandkids off those computer chairs and on to their bikes... or onto their ponies... or simply walking the dog. Enthuse them. Baptise them in the holy fire that is Nature. And let’s lay the foundations for a better world tomorrow.
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