A recent survey has found that children are more likely to watch television or play video games than than they are to play outdoors. The “Breaking the Grass Ceiling”survey of 2,000 adults by house builder, Redrow, included the families of four to 17 year olds.
The survey found that a third of children were affected by a lack of safe outdoor play areas and nature spaces sufficiently close to their homes. Parents and grandparents said their children were not able to play outdoors independently due to a lack of safe walking or cycling routes, and that the problem impacted children’s mental health and personal development.
Over half said that the “safety of society” was a concern and had affected their child’s independence. Instead of outdoor play, 68% of children mainly watched TV and 53% played video games. A third said that physical play experiences were confined to indoor soft play facilities.
Forty percent of parents believed the problem had caused a lack of sense of adventure, while 28% said their child suffered increases social anxiety. Grandparents reported even higher concerns for each of these issues.
Redrow said the findings were evidence of a generational divide. Almost two thirds of those born between 1996-2010 (Generation Z) wished they had spent more time outdoors as a child and could not name five common garden insects.
The majority of parents had noticed a significant improvement in their child’s behaviour once they had better access to the outdoors. Half said their children had improved sleep and a third said their children spent less time on screens and became calmer.
Redrow hopes the survey results will be acted on more widely by house builders to encourage more outdoor play and an increased engagement with nature. It said it was committed to incorporating nature within its building schemes to ensure that access to green spaces was available to every home.
It would seem a good business decision, as half of those taking part in the survey said that access to green spaces was a “key attraction” when considering a new home.