Let Kids Be Kids
I wish…that our kids could safely play on the streets again, the way that I did when I was growing up.
This winning “Wish of the Week” was submitted by Alice of www.mycotorra.com. Alice lamented that she has lost that sense of neighborhood that she had growing up, and that now-a-days playtime for kids is all about play dates. She asks, “What happened to running wild all day and just checking in at meal times?”
Studies have shown that today’s US children spend only 4 to 7 minutes per day playing outside. The reasons for this are:
1. Children’s free time has decreased significantly due to homework and extensive after-school activities.
2. The plugged-in phenomenon: kids spend an average of 7 hours per day in front of a TV, computer, smart phone or game console screen.
3. Parents fear that their children may be abducted if allowed to play outdoors.
This lack of outdoor play is having a significant impact on our children. Experts believe that staying longer indoors can lead to childhood obesity, attention-deficit disorder (due to the amount of time interacting with electronic devices) and higher stress and depression levels (due to decreased exposure to nature and its calming effects).
What can we do to make Alice’s wish come true?
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image:flickr.com
Whatever happened to the good ol’ days when we used to make kids work in factories. Hm.
On a more serious note, I think a lot of it has to do with neighborhoods. I live in the city, and I don’t even know that there are kids on my block, at all. If I had kids, I think I’d be forced to take them to the playground, and since it’s a few blocks away, supervision would absolutely be necessary. On the other hand, my sister lives in a suburban housing development where young families, most with school-aged kids, all built their houses at around the same time. My niece is almost always in someone else’s back yard playing after school.
I agree with you. I rarely see kids playing outside anymore and it’s because they are so involved in activities or are indoors on the internet or ipod. Now I am a 20-something and am all for the things I just listed but I also feel that there should be a balance. Now that I am in my mid 20′s I greatly see the importance of really enjoying your childhood to fullest and am really lucky that parents guided me to enjoy it. great post!
I know what you mean! When I was growing up, we played all over our neighborhood, even after dark (gasp!) in the summer! However, we lived in a secluded neighborhood that was tucked back far away on top of a hill from a busy street. Where I live now, a busy street is only one house down from me-I would not let my kids play out in the neighborhood without supervision to keep them out of the road. However, we do have a nice, flat .5 acre backyard
stopping by from the comment hour….a bit late!
Well I got to play outside a little bit when I was a kid because I was from a strict parents. My kids go play outside more than I ever did mind you my little townhouse backs right up to a huge field. So they can play and play and I can watch them from the comfort of my living room. However, in the winter having them play outside does get hard unless it is snowing.
I remember my town being my “playground” – riding bikes, meeting up the neighborhood kids to play kick the can across multiple backyards, rollarblading, etc – unfortunately now that I’m a parent and raising kids in NYC, I do fall into the category of being afraid my kids will be abducted while out playing unsupervised – hec, I even get paranoid while I’m at the playground WITH the kids that it’s going to happen under my nose. Maybe it would be different if I was raising my kids in the town I grew up in…but maybe not? I just think we need to make a point of planning more purposeful time outside with our kids to deal with this issue safely – which is a lot of work on our part as parents, but worth the try.
For anyone with this wish, get on board! http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/