Brit kids failing to fall out of trees

Brit kids are dismally failing to do themselves an injury in the time-honoured way, by falling out of trees, as they increasingly spend their time glued to video games, the Sun has revealed.

According to shock figures obtained by the paper, a healthy 1,796 youngsters aged 15 and under required treatment for tree-related damage in 2002, but this fell last year to just 885. Similarly, "skateboard, rollerskate, ski and other skating accidents tumbled by 57 per cent over the same period".

Ominously, "serious repetitive strain injuries" resulting from excessive gaming were up a "massive" 60 per cent on 2002

Sociology professor Frank Furedi lamented: "This fall in what would be perceived as traditional growing-up accidents is bad news for childhood. The digital bedroom culture is growing all the time at the expense of the outdoors.

"Doing physically challenging outdoor activities teaches children how to deal with risk - and they learn about their own strengths and weaknesses."

That may be true, but parents concerned that their kids may be turning into risk-free sofa-bound lard buckets can take solace from the fact that they're indulging in positive “systematic and evaluative processes” and acquiring vital keyhole surgery skills. ®