Parents, if you don't want your children to become a "couch potato", please encourage them to play and get dirty as well, experts have suggested.
According to the author of <i>Toxic Childhood Sue Palmer</i>, nowadays children are living a more sedentary life for many reasons, including the growth of kid's television, video games and parental concerns about the risk of physical harm while playing what used to be normal childhood games.
"If children do not get first hand experience of the real world the there will be problems later on with emotional and physical resilience," she was quoted by British newspaper <i>The Daily Telegraph</i> as saying.
Agreed Dame Fiona Reynolds, the Director General of Britain's National Trust, saying that concerns are growing that children are not experiencing nature by climbing trees or being stung by nettles, for example.
"It is responding to the fact that a lot of parents say that one of the reasons they bring their children to National Trust properties is because they do not know about danger because they are discouraged from getting their hands dirty or getting involved.
"The National Trust is one of the few places you can come out of your cocoon and get real access to nature, experience it and take part in something, where children are encouraged to run around outdoors," Reynolds was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Even a recent survey found most children knew what a dalek from the television programme 'Dr Who' looked like but few could identify a barn owl.
