So much is being said about children and how little time they spend playing outdoors and instead spend the majority of their free time indoors sitting in front of the computer and texting on their cell phones. The experts have been informing us for quite some time now about how unhealthy these habits are both physically as well as mentally.
Recently a study concluded that America’s children are spending a total of 8 hours with their electronic devices. These include the cell phone with texting, the computer, watching television, I-pods, and video game systems. There’s good reason for their concern since these aren’t the kind of activities that promote any kind of good quality socialization, physical activity or face-to-face/one-on-one conversations.
The generation that raised the children of today spent most of their childhood years playing outdoors. Children often played one-on-one or in a group such as with kids in their neighborhood. The most common and popular activities were playing tag, riding bikes, skate boarding, roller skating, playing sports, and Frisbee just to name a few.
It was a common occurrence when spending the night at a friends house, to pop a tent in the backyard and pretend we were somewhere out in the woods camping. Making outdoor forts was also something many of the kids did. Even children into their teenage years found it very popular to gather as many kids as possible in the neighborhood and play hide and seek. This was especially fun in the summer months and by playing this outdoors in a large area it made for creative hiding. It was also common to see when families had get togethers for holidays, birthdays or other special occasions to see volleyball nets being put up in the yard or the croquet set being set up to play.
The good old fashioned game of horse shoes and badminton was also quite popular. Children today are fortunate to have all the electronic devices available to them since they all serve a purpose, are very useful and can be a lot of fun. What needs to occur is that the time spent with these electronics and the time spent outdoors and socializing with other kids needs to be balanced more evenly. Once this can be implemented successfully, the negative things we notice in our children from hyper-focusing on these devices will gradually disappear.
A great way to get kids active is to start gardening outdoors. You can grow fruits and vegetables with them to get them interested. Wormeries are a great way to make home made compost because kids, especially boys, love creepy crawlies. Lean to greenhouses can be used to protect your crops during winter.
Tags: active children, activities, children, kids, outdoors