We must teach kids to run wild again

Today’s youngsters ‘don’t know what they’re supposed to do’ when left to their own devices outdoors, Michaela Strachan has said (pictured with her son Ollie)

There was a time when children would play outside all day in the summer, returning home hungry, thirsty and in need of a good bath.

But today’s youngsters ‘don’t know what they’re supposed to do’ when left to their own devices outdoors, Springwatch presenter Michaela Strachan has said.

The 49-year-old has called for the ‘re-wilding’ of children who spend too much time playing with gadgets.

She said that children have not learnt how to entertain themselves outside, instead spending their time glued to iPads.

The mother-of-one said: ‘Re-wilding kids is something I think is really important.

‘We live in a very technical, digital world and a lot of people are only experiencing the outdoors through their screen – which is really sad.

Before we had all this technology children would just be left outside to play and entertain themselves with their own imagination – they knew what to do.

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