Physical and mental benefits of outdoor play for children...
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Great Big World
Spending time immersed in nature helps produce happy, well-adjusted kids.
By Violet Snow April 2010
I like to play indoors better �cause that�s where all the electrical outlets are�a fourth-grader in San Diego, quoted in Last Child in the Woods (Workman Publishing Company, 2005), in which journalist Richard Louv introduced the concept of �nature deficit disorder� in children.
Freewheeling outdoor play, from building stick shelters to cloudgazing, that was once common for children is much less available to today�s youth�and Louv says they�re missing something vital. He blames influences such as the loss of green space, an obsession with safety, educational pressures and the fascination of electronic media.
Numerous studies show that problems such as obesity, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) improve when kids are exposed to nature. Cornell University researchers found that children with ready access to nature handled stress more successfully (Environment and Behavior 5/03). Scientists at the University of Southern California found that children who had park space within 500 meters of home tended to be less overweight (Association of Research Libraries conference, 4/09).
Apparently Trampolines are meant to be good for Autistics, and also riding and being around horses.
We used to love riding down a hill near us, on a piece of tin, big enough to sit on.
I feel sorry for the kids these days that don't know what its like to have fun in the outdoors.
"I like to play indoors better ‘cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are—a fourth-grader in San Diego."
Too sad.
"Freewheeling outdoor play, from building stick shelters to cloudgazing, that was once common for children is much less available to today’s youth—and Louv says they’re missing something vital."
My kids were religated to the outdoors from about as soon as they could walk come hell or high water they were outside.
What I have now are two adult outdoor enthusianst and risk takers.. I don't even want to hear about what they do it upsets me so much! They live for the back country.
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"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." Marcus Aurelius
I just remember not wanting to come in for meals and then hurrying to eat so I could go back out again. No desert for me, thanks, bye. (That is, if desert was offered.)Now kids sit all day inside except when they get up to rummage in the kitchen for more snacks.
A big part of the problem is parents that use various types of video games to babysit/amuse their children. Then they wonder why kids are labelled "depressed" and fed prescription meds at such young ages.
Well, I will not say that my kids didn't do video games, cause they did. But they had parents that modeled other things for them in life.. Kids that do video games and have parents that are couch potatoes are doomed. Video games in and of themselves will not distroy ones life, but in the compounding of indigent activity and lack of creative expression, thats where the problem lies.
My kids were not afraid to get wet, cold or hot becasue of early outdoor play. Actually my biggest problem was keeping a coat on them in the middle of winter. Finally I gave up, realizing that my need for them to have a coat on was probably based in my erronous belief system.. as long as they had shelter nearby, I let go.
These peanut allergies and autoimmune diseases in kids have a lot to do with them being raised in too sterile of an environment. A buddy of mine was telling me there is not one single kid raised on a farm who has peanut allergies.
I couldn't agree more, kids today live a far too sedentary lifestyle - television, computers etc. Getting out in the fresh air and getting a bit of dirt under the fingernails is going to boost their immune systems and overall health.
Young or old, fresh air and exercise are essential components for good health. Heart & circulationary health particuarly.
My daughter started watching videos when she was 4 and she loves them but I hated seeing her just sit there so I plopped a trampoline in front of the TV and said when you watch you bounce. She does. I'm usually alongside her on the treadmill.
But nothing can beat being outdoors. I want to go back to "The Little House on the Prairie" days.
There's a gorgeous lake we lived near 6 years ago that has a walking path alongside it. I'm thinking of moving back because I know we'll be outside much more if we were close to that lake.
I couldn't agree more, kids today live a far too sedentary lifestyle - television, computers etc. Getting out in the fresh air and getting a bit of dirt under the fingernails is going to boost their immune systems and overall health.
Young or old, fresh air and exercise are essential components for good health. Heart & circulationary health particuarly.
I have 2 friends whose kids have severe allergy issues. The both have things in common: moms who will not let the kids play outside.
I have 2 friends whose kids have severe allergy issues. The both have things in common: moms who will not let the kids play outside.
Looking from the outside it's easy to judge and assume the kids have allergies because they are not allowed to be outside. But I'm sure it is not easy to see your child develop hives, breathing difficulties, wetting the bed at night, temper tantrums and all around misery from the histamine reaction from otherwise harmless dust, pollen and whatever sets these children off. It's a terrible situation to be in.
I am 29 and it seems I was the last generation that actually played outside before the internet and video gaming really matured. I can ride my bicycle on the road for 20 miles or more in a day and not see a kid outside, unless I explicitly pass a playground. They just stay inside. Recently my two cousins aged 9 and 13 came the day after Christmas. Within the first five minutes they asked for our wifi key to connect with their Ipod Touches!
Kids just don't got out, and it is in large part because their parents don't allow it. One of the biggest factors is that almost every sphere of human activity has been monetized, destroying any sense of community. In the Anglosphere and Western Europe people just want to live in an artifical bubble between their relationship to money through their workplace and the goods and services they can purchase with the money earned there. This makes for a hostile world that you think you need to cocoon your children from, because no one truly cares about anyone. Sure you go outside and people also exchange pleasantries on a very superficial level: "have a nice day, good day, good night, please, thank you, god bless you, your welcome, do you enjoy your meal," but operationally you know these are just empty words and not real concern due to the lack of follow up. Heck, most those fake niceties are exchanged with the people staffing and manning retail outlets and other places of commerce you are only supposed to enter because you are a customer or potential one.
I bet even many the forumers here think life is merely about obtaining and holding a "good job" and buying comparatively more with it. It is really sad but that is all the dominant societal paradigm extols and amounts to. Gary Null says that nutrition, diet and supplementation is only at most about 15% of health and other sources confirm this.
I am 29 and it seems I was the last generation that actually played outside before the internet and video gaming really matured. I can ride my bicycle on the road for 20 miles or more in a day and not see a kid outside, unless I explicitly pass a playground. They just stay inside. Recently my two cousins aged 9 and 13 came the day after Christmas. Within the first five minutes they asked for our wifi key to connect with their Ipod Touches!
That reminds me of some kids that lived across the street a few years ago. It snowed and they came outside to play. I thought, oh, good, I've never seen these kids outside, now they get to play in the snow, let me watch them having fun. They stood there uncomfortably on their front stoop for a few minutes and then went back in. Pitiful.
Benefits of Outdoor Play for Children
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