“We have made cities very unfriendly to children”, points out the Bloom Movement – which seeks to promote environmental education among children and awaken their connection to nature.
The Bloom Movement has been showing the forest to students in Sintra for several years and now wants to extend the experience to Amadora.
The association develops a project called Forest Schoolwhich helps children discover nature, and which now aims to double the number of children involved in projects in the forest.
Magda Ferroone of the creators of the initiative and coordinator of the Escola da Floresta Bloom program, in a kind of assessment made to the Lusa agency, says that more than ever it is justified take children out of the classroom and take them to discover nature.
Children need to go out and climb trees
The playing area a child has today compared to 1970 is one ninth: “We have made cities very child-friendly. We kept the children at home and in the last 10 years we have restricted them to the sofawith any technological device”.
The association cites international studies that indicate that increased screen time is directly associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression and attention deficits, while Time spent in nature improves well-being and ability to concentrate.
And also citing official data, from 2022 (Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative: COSI Portugal — Report), says that around 20% of children and adolescents have at least one diagnosable mental disorder and 31% of young people have depressive symptoms, the majority of which are moderate or severe, and 31.9% of children aged 6 to 8 are overweight (pre-obesity and obesity).
And the truth is that, according to studies but also what Bloom has found in the field, regular contact with nature improves school performance, mental and physical health and cooperation and empathy between children.
According to the Movement, When a child stops climbing a tree “they lose more than just play: they lose confidence, balance and curiosity. And a society that loses this, loses its future.”
