By Julian Gavaghan

Last updated at 10:41 AM on 5th March 2012

Warning: Fiona Reynolds, head of the National Trust, said stopping children from playing outdoors was harmful

Children are being denied the sheer joy of being outdoors due to health and safety fears, the head of the National Trust warned today.

Dame Fiona Reynolds also said that cosseted upbringings are also damaging youngsters fitness and weakening their immune system.

Figures show that children are now three times more likely to injure themselves by falling out of bed than from a tree and that unsupervised roaming has shrunk by 90 per cent since the 1970s.

Dame Fiona said applying the health and safety culture of the city to the countryside was wrong.

The world has become a very different place, and people have become very anxious about the risks real or perceived, she told The Times.

But its a matter of knowing where the risks are, but not trying to wipe them away, she added.

Children are missing out on the sheer joy and physical and mental wellbeing of being able to play outside and experience nature in all its messiness.

Originally posted here:
Health and safety fears denying children of 'sheer joy of nature', says National Trust chief