LOST ART OF CHILDHOOD THE:BYRDEN-BROWN

Remember being taught how to fish? Or going camping with your dad and learning how to pitch a tent? Or your mum showing you how to dig a vegetable garden or raise silkworms? Could you teach the same skills to your children? Did you even learn them in the first place?The traditional pursuits of childhood - fishing, camping, card games, gardening, handicrafts, to name a few - have become outmoded in this world of after-school care and working mothers. Life skills once passed down from parents to children are considered quaint and old-fashioned. But when journalist Sarah Bryden-Brown's 10-year-old son announced he wanted to pursue these activities, her horror at not knowing where to begin soon turned into delight as her whole family discovered a new world of fun and togetherness.