Children and the natural world

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Recently we reported about the fact that many youngsters in Britain have no idea where there food comes from and other issues of the countryside.

One can but wonder how much else they do not know as regards the natural world and products from Nature.

How many, one can but wonder, know or not know that paper, card and cardboard, is made from wood pulp, that is to say that from trees and if they know how many actually know – for far too many adults do not know either – that this wood pulp does not come from tropical rainforests. In fact most paper is made from the pulp of softwood trees such as pine and spruce, and grown specifically for the making of paper, card and cardboard.

How many also do not know that wooden spoons, spatulas, plants, pallets, and furniture once were trees or part thereof? Many, no doubt, believe that that is all made in a factory. They have never, more than likely, unlike most of us did as children, made a catapult (slingshot) from a forked tree branch or a walking stick from a sapling. Sad, this is; very sad indeed.

We are creating, in the UK especially, but more than likely also in the USA, generations of children and young people who have no idea of the Nature and the produce and products that come from Nature, whether from the woods or the farms.

Vegetables with dirt attached are also entirely alien to many of them and they cannot understand that that is how they come, in real life, and therefore they will want nothing to do with them. That vegetables generally, unless grown in hydroponic systems, as so many are today, grow in dirt, better known as soil, and thus have dirt on them that needs washing off is something they just do not know because of their detachment from the natural world.

But it is not entirely their fault. In fact it is not the children's fault at all. It is the fault of society that is trying to mollycoddle kids and keep them away from anything that could be remotely dangerous. So, no climbing of trees, no building dens and playing in the woods, and not even gardening as the tools can be weapons.

Not surprising, therefore, that today's kids, or a great many of them, are so very removed and remote from the natural world. In addition to that, unlike when we were children, they are also not allowed to see the realities of Nature; of birth and death in the wild, whether animal, insect or tree and of eating and being eaten.

That the burger they eat – though probably not at McDonald's – was once a steer and that it had to die for it is something they are totally unaware of. And also that the paper they use or the wooden ruler was once a tree is alien to them. But again, it is not their fault but it is due to the fact that the adult world refused to teach them reality.

Today's children and young people suffer from what has become known as Nature Deficiency Disorder and this being disconnected from Nature is also the cause for many of the problems in and with our children and young people today. It is also, probably, the underlying cause for much of the violence exhibited by kids today.

We must throw away the rule book and allow children to go bush again and experience, also for themselves, the natural world and play with the materials of Nature, including whittling catapults and walking sticks. And yes, that does include the use of a knife, a sharp knife.

© 2013

One in three youths in Britain do not know where milk, eggs and bacon come from

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

A poll of 2,000 people for the charity Leaf (Linking Environment and Farming) found that more than a third of 16 to 23-year-olds, in fact 36% of them, do not know bacon comes from pigs and four in 10 failed to link milk with an image of a dairy cow, with 7% linking it to wheat.

Some 41% correctly linked butter to a dairy cow, with 8% linking it to beef cattle, while 67% were able to link eggs to an image of a hen some 11% thought they came from wheat or maize.

A total of 6% of those questioned knew that salad dressing could come from rapeseed oil, compared with the national average among all age groups of 24%.

Although four in 10 young adults (43%) considered themselves knowledgeable about where their food comes from, the results revealed a "shocking" lack of knowledge about how the most basic food is produced, the charity said.

We often hear reports that our food knowledge may be declining but this new research shows how bad the situation is becoming and despite what they think, young adults are clearly becoming removed from where their food comes from.

It is estimated that 3 in 10 adults born in the 1990s haven't visited a farm in more than 10 years, if at all. It has to be said that this is a real shame as our farmers not only play an important role in food production but are passionate about engaging and reconnecting consumers too.

However, one also has to consider the fact here that schools are basically afraid to take children on farm visits for fear of litigation and health and safety concerns. Topping that is also the fact that it could upset children, so it has been phrased once, to realize that the burgers they consume actually come from cuddly animals.

The charity, which has been organizing an Open Farm Sunday event on the weekend of April 27 and 28, also found almost two-thirds of young adults (64%) did not know that new potatoes would be available from British farms in June, and one in 10 (10%) thought they took less than a month to grow.

OnePoll surveyed 2,000 British adults online between May 11 and 14 on behalf of LEAF.

Surprising this should not be as a study found some ten years or so ago already that children were miles removed from Nature and reality in the UK with many of them thinking that milk came from a factory and had nothing to do with cows and burgers the same.

When asked what a gamekeeper did a great many, at that time, replied that he looked after the Pokemon.

It is high time that children would be reintroduced to reality and not only learned where their food comes from but actually also learned how to grow their own food, and that from a very young age.

That, however, could be a problem with health and safety rules such as we can see when it comes to gardening tools aimed at primary school children where it has to be stated on the tools that they must not be used by children under the age of 10 or 11. Or when, as recently, teachers are suspended and punished for just even showing garden tools to children as they are classed by school authorities as – wait for it – weapons. And we still wonder why our children have become so removed from Nature and reality.

We also do not allow them to “play” in the outdoors all too often now for fear that they could be interfered with or they could hurt themselves and thus removing them from any contact with the natural world and also causing them to become obese.

We have created this generation and we are creating another generation that is possibly even further removed from Nature and from reality if we are not going to put in the reverse gear and that now.

© 2013