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Outdoor play is key to maintaining kids health
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Go play outside! That's the message more parents and doctors need to tell kids, according to a new report indicating children are spending too much time indoors to the detriment of their physical and mental health.
From videogames and text messaging to Web surfing and TV-watching, American kids are spending too much time indoors, leading to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression and even Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Children today spend only four to seven minutes in daily unstructured outdoor play, according to a new report issued by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), entitled "Whole Child:. Developing Mind, Body and Spirit through Outdoor Play." Today's kids are indoors far more than their parents were, with only a quarter playing outside daily as compared to nearly three quarters a generation ago.
"American kids are out of shape, tuned out and stressed out because they're missing something essential to their health and development -- unstructured time outdoors," NWF senior vice president of education Kevin Coyle said. "The modern child's day includes far more screen time than green time." According to Deputy U .S. Surgeon General Dr. David Rutstein, this is a key factor in the childhood obesity epidemic and, if trends aren't reversed, may contribute to a generation with shorter lives plagued with disease. "If this problem is not addressed, we will leave our children a legacy of shorter life spans for the first time in history," he says.
For American parents who want their children to be fit, focused and feeling good, the first step is to walk out the front door. Here are some ideas from the NWF's report to get kids outdoors:
Be a role model. Unplug from media and plug-in to nature. Join your kids for fun in the backyard, garden, park or on a nature trail.
Enlist friends and neighbors to create outdoor playgroups.
Get creative. Whether building a fort from twigs, creating a fairy forest or pretending to be superheroes, playing outside inspires active imaginations.
Where safe, encourage kids to walk or bike to school.
Take the pledge to "Be Out There" and get your kids outdoors. Visit www.beoutthere.org/pledge, which offers free downloadable outdoor activity suggestions.
Get happy! Playing protects children's emotional development, letting kids be kids. Lying in the grass watching clouds go by or playing tag to let off steam keeps joy at the forefront. Watch stress levels fall within minutes of being outside.
Doctors can help, too, by writing prescriptions for their young patients for regular outdoor play time.
For the full "Whole Child" report, and to learn more about raising a "Be Out There" kid, go to www.beoutthere.org.
Copyright 2010 Cheney Free Press, Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.
© 2010 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.
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