Feral Children (in a good way!)

[Poddington Pea]

Hello all,

I've noticed lots of you are parents and wondered 'how feral are your children!'
As a child I was free range, climbed trees, scraped legs, made and ate mud pies etc. I loved it! On holiday my sister and I would roam where ever we were (beach holidays abroad and freezing trips to Wales, devon etc) all day long, making dens, finding 'treasure', rock pooling, catching lizards...... We loved it!!!
I'm keen for my son to enjoy this outside lifestyle which is why we moved from London to Somerset. I call him the 'chicken child' as he loves being in the run with them and is near impossible to get out. He's happiest covered in mud, eating stones and mooing at the hens. The first thing he says when we get home is 'gardening?'.
So, how feral are your children?!
X

[chris]

Our one is 19 months now and loves going to a 'wolk' - loves being outside, bit too young to be out there when you're doing stuff though as she just disappears if you turn your back I was the same, I grew up abroad and was only at home for dinner, and bed - all other times I was outside/at school.

[Poddington Pea]

My son is 17 months and our only issue when he's outside is his 'what does that taste like?' attitude! When feeding the hens I can't turn my back or he'll be eating the corn and a few weeks ago he threw a tantrum because I made him spit out a snail
All my friends were boys when I was young and we'd all eat mud and race snails, catch worms then have lunch without washing our hands we were NEVER ill. One is now a GP and he says that he advises sickly children 'get outside and get on with it'! (within reason).
My husband by comparison was not allowed to get dirty at all as a child. He often jokes that if he'd fallen out of a tree his mother would check his clothes before asking if he was alright.
He now loves getting dirty in the garden and we all have a few sets of 'scruffs' that are worn until they are stiff with mud before being washed!

[ginger ninger]

I don't have kid's, but I had a fantastic childhood. We lived across the lane from a dairy farm, I spend most of my childhood helping milk the cows. Mr Weldon (farmer) and I were the only ones who could get near there bull called Bimbo. I was there when he was born & we went all over the farm together. I also use to have a chopper bike which together with my cousins...all boys, went all over the place. Mum use to put us all sandwiches up and we'd take off for the day. We use to go swimming in the canal also stickle backing and looking for frog spawn, climbing tree's. Yup, I was a tom boy and loved every minute. When I was little 2/3 years old dad use to take me to the allotment to feed the hens & geese. Apparently I didn't dig in the dirt...I scratched around in it and tried to eat worms, when he shouted me I use to "Bock bock" at him .
I say let children be children...there's plenty of time for them to grow up later

[Florence Fennel]

If they're dirty it usually means they're happy and well!

[fruitylou]

My son is 18months so not opportunity to be feral, but when we are in the garden I do let him get on with it, touching everything and getting stuck in, at the minute hes into pulling up chunks of grass and filling pots with gravel to put elsewhere, we were out for hours the other day and when we came in his nappy had gravel and mud in Ouch! he didn't seem bothered though lol

[Poddington Pea]

I've been trying to upload pics of chicken child with his friends the hens - won't work!!! I also had a pic of him leaning forwards to reveal the back of his nappy full of gravel! He does exactly the same thing with the gravel, fills buckets, flower pots( with plants in) the lawn is covered in gravel too, I've been trying to teach him to take the stones from the lawn and put them on the path, but he insists on doing it the other way round
GN, that's brought back memories! A friend and I used to ride the 5 miles along the Thames to her aunties house for lunch. With another friend I used to swim in the river and go fishing off her little boat which was full of holes and regularly sank! My sister's god-brothers used to take ,e out on their boat too, they were a few years loder than me and I idolised them. They taught me to hook maggots and gut fish. They also used to eat maggots I thought they were sooooo cool

[di]

When we first got our lottie DS was only just sitting...I remember plonking him in the middle of the plot and he found a dirty old worm to play with...turned my back for two seconds and when I looked round again the worm had been mysteriously cleaned!
They both love the opportunity to spend a day getting as dirty as they can,digging holes and making mudpies...I love it nearly as much as they do.

[Florence Fennel]

Lovely photographs ladies, of beautifully dirty children, thank you very much.

[pipkins]

Mine is outside at any given opportunity playing footy, has no interest in helping with lottie only eating the produce.

I was always outside as a child either with the horses at the stables or down the beach.

[jackie j]

As a child who grew up in the late 50's early 60's we went anywhere and everywhere. We lived in a seaside town so days were spent at the beach nearly everyday ( didnt seem to rain as much back then ) from nine in the morning till six at night, no parent in sight for most of it. I had loads of cousins as well as two older sisters to keep an eye on me. Mum sometimes came at lunch time for an hour or so but on the whole we were left to our own devices. She would give us sixpence for the bus but more often than not we would buy chips and walk the mile home. Happy days.
My sons were allowed out as long as they said where they were going and didnt wander off without telling me. We had a beach hut on the the beach and spent most days there and they would go off with their freinds but they knew where I was, no mobile phones even then ( 80's ).
My daughter however is a different story she has a mobile and had one at the age of 10, not that she was on her own very much, I took her wherever she had to be, walked her to school and fetched her after everyday till age 11. We allowed her to go into town with a friend but would also be in town sitting in a cafe till she was ready and would give her a time to be back, usually about an hour.
Now she is nearly 15 she is allowed to go further, she catches the train to the city near us on a regular basis. She doesnt want me hanging around does she.
You have to let them be kids first and foremost, be there for them whenever where ever they need you. Give them time to be with their friends without mum or dad being around, that way they grow up to be confident kids. They need to know how to stay safe in this day and age.

[vicky]

Well my 4 year old is so filthy most of the time he must be fantastically happy! He and the other 3 boys in his class (yes, there's only 4 children in his year at school...) have a great stone collection and much prized are 'drawing stones' and 'silver ones'.

[Sylvan]

You have to let them be kids first and foremost, be there for them whenever where ever they need you. Give them time to be with their friends without mum or dad being around, that way they grow up to be confident kids.

...even if it does mean you develop a close relationship with the local A&E department

[Glutton4...]

Like Ginge, I don't have children, and like Ginge, I grew up in the countryside. Footpaths and Byways were our playground, and we were always covered in mud and dirt. Tree Houses and dens were a regular project, even making one out of a stack of straw bales in the middle of a field, one summer. That one got us in trouble! As I grew, a packed lunch and a bike was all I needed, or a Pony when I was older and that was it - gone... Back for tea and a good scrub up from Mum (yeeeeuuuuch!), ready for school on the Monday. Happy days.

I'm pleased to say, that apart from now going everywhere on 4 wheels instead of 2, little has changed, as I'm usually still covered in dirt...

Except, I don't eat worms any more!

[danmon_81]

Lucy's only 12 weeks but i really hope she has the 'outdoors' bringing up that i had....i'll be doing everything possible to give her the chances to explore, play, eat, run, climb.......its very exciting!! (she can only just hold her head up and i've already picked out her first tree to climb!!)