Are activities for children more important now?

Published on 01-04-2010

Summary: Priorities have shifted over several generations, it has been claimed.

Those who grew up in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis or the post-war depression put more emphasis on activities for children than their parents did, according to one columnist.

Rowan Pelling explained in a Daily Telegraph article that the approach to entertaining offspring has evolved over several decades.

She said: "Parents in those days were less concerned with joy and more on the basic questions of whether their offspring were fed, watered, exercised and educated."

Nowadays, Ms Pelling claimed she is surrounded by happy, engaged families with involved and lively children - despite the fact that sometimes an adult might worry too much about occupying youngsters.

Citing her husband's childhood experience of taking a rowing boat out by himself, she encouraged mums and dads to focus on the emotional wellbeing of the newest generation.

David Attenborough recently highlighted the changing nature of activities for children, lamenting the loss of pastimes such as collecting fossils.

Posted by Louie Simmons

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