Are we de-naturalizing our children?

I suspect BowHunter will have the strongest opinion on this particular story. It describes how children in only 4 generations have lost the freedom to wander and explore the natural world around them. A child born in 1926 was free to wander 6 or 10 miles from home in search of fun, and thus was able to explore the natural world. A child born in the 2000s, on the other hand, is likely to never be allowed more than 300 feet from his own lawn unsupervised and thus have very little interaction with the natural world.

"It's not just about time. Traffic is an important consideration, as is the fear of abduction, but I'm not sure whether that's real or perceived."

...The report's author, Dr William Bird, the health adviser to Natural England and the organiser of a conference on nature and health on Monday, believes children's long-term mental health is at risk.

He has compiled evidence that people are healthier and better adjusted if they get out into the countryside, parks or gardens.

Stress levels fall within minutes of seeing green spaces, he says. Even filling a home with flowers and plants can improve concentration and lower stress.

"If children haven't had contact with nature, they never develop a relationship with natural environment and they are unable to use it to cope with stress," he said.

"Studies have shown that people deprived of contact with nature were at greater risk of depression and anxiety. Children are getting less and less unsupervised time in the natural environment.

"They need time playing in the countryside, in parks and in gardens where they can explore, dig up the ground and build dens."

I am hardly a good judge of this, since I have always been the great INdoorsman - preferring my own imagination to green spaces - but this makes a lot of sense to me. I know my mother spend most of the summer outside wandering the neighborhood and adjacent spaces, while I see most friends kids never allowed out of the sight of parents until they are well into their teens. Can this NOT have an impact on our development as human beings?