In the late 1980s and early 1990s, largely thanks to the efforts of Janet Street-Porter, reflecting the aspirations and interests of the young generation was seen as so vitally important that it gave birth to a raft of new programming.

Not everything produced under the banner of yoof TV was good, in fact some of it was pretty dreadful, but at least back then being of an age to know who was number one in the charts was seen as something to celebrate. Today most mention of teenagers is usually accompanied by a weary shrug of the shoulders.

Binge drinking is rife, standing around bus stops passes for a hobby and add in stories about the problems of guns, drugs, truancy and vandalism and it would seem an entire generation is on the brink of turning feral.

Various solutions have been suggested to combat this rise in antisocial behaviour. Devices which emit uncomfortable high frequency sound have been strapped to lamp posts, CCTV cameras have be trained on specific hotspots, but recently the tide has changed with politicians and educationalists seeming to agree that the carrot rather than the stick approach is what's needed.

Everyone from Prince Charles to Government ministers have come to the agreement that if young people were introduced to real culture in the form of the arts, museums, galleries and theatres, the world in general would be a much better place.

Gordon Brown's administration has not exactly been overwhelmed with good news announcements, but earlier this year Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families unveiled plans to give every school pupil access to at least five hours of high-quality culture per week.

The flesh is being put on the bones of the project, with the Creative Partnerships organisation inviting applications from areas keen to be one of the 10 pilot schemes.

"It's all about making creativity seem more fun to children, says Richard Darlington, a spokesman for Creative Partnerships. "You won't change any child's attitude to the arts and culture in just an afternoon – it needs to be a structured, ongoing programme," he says.

"We're trying to give children the life skills they need. Modern employers are asking for more than just good qualifications – they want competent communicators, for example, and the theatre teaches that incredibly well."

He says that as well as helping children develop life skills, encouraging them to experience different cultural activities can be good for parents too.

"Parents can find some academic work difficult themselves, but the arts and culture is, like sport, much easier for them to get involved in. I think it's important that the Government doesn't try and force particular art forms or culture on children. But if they don't have the opportunity to try it when they're a child then they go into adult life thinking that certain art forms are off the table.

"What we want to do is make children confident consumers of culture so they can make choices about what they like based on having had an experience of it."

Increasing numbers of museums and galleries are becoming more family-friendly, with interactive zones for children, with the Weston Park Museum in Sheffield recently picking up the Family Friendly Museum Award, organised by the charity Kids in Museums and the Guardian newspaper.

The charity was founded by writer Dea Birkett, who hopes increasing numbers of family-friendly cultural attractions will prompt more youngsters to visit, but who points out that often it's not the parents who have to persuade children to try a spot of culture, but vice-versa.

"Research is showing that in some families, particularly the disadvantaged ones, the only person who will have been to a museum is a child with a school visit," she says. "Often they'll have had such a great time that they come back and say to their parents they should go too.

"So one of our aims is that such school visits become an invitation to the whole family to visit museums and galleries."

She says that what kids get out of such visits is "the thrill of the real", stressing: "There's nothing like putting your hands on a rock that's hundreds of millions of years old. Kids love the fact that what they're seeing and feeling is real – that feeling is unbeatable."

To find local family-friendly museums and galleries, go to the Culture24 children's zone at www.show.me.uk www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk