Bryce Post
2/14/2012
Kids in this present time are the most technologically literate children ever. They are more plugged in to technology and all the information that it provides than any other generation. They are also the least physically active and the least environmentally literate. They have lost their connection to nature, to the outdoors. They spend vast amounts of time inside interacting with technology. Their parents have created an atmosphere of fear that keeps them close and indoors so that nothing bad happens to them. The opposite is actually true. According to the EPA, indoor air pollution is the nation’s number one environmental threat to health — and it’s from two to 10 times worse than outdoor air pollution. The CDC has found that child hood obesity has steadily increased since the 1980’s. “The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.” This has been caused by a combination of higher caloric intake and reduction in physical activity. Kids today do not spend enough time outside. The recent statistics are startling. Children spend 189 minutes per week on the computer, 231 minutes per week talking on their cell phones, 560 minutes per week playing video games, 1,890 minutes per week watching television and 21 minutes per week playing outside. That’s right, they spend less than a half an hour outdoors in an average week.
In a 1991 study cited in “Last Child Left in the Woods” by Richard Louv it is estimated that the area in which a child was allowed to roam and play in the area surrounding their house had decreased to 1/9th of the area it was in 1970.
I grew up in the 80’s in Oshkosh, WI. At the age of 11 years old I could ride my bike anywhere in town if my parents knew where I was going. In fact, I remember biking to a soccer game across town because neither of my parents could drive me there. The radius that I was allowed to freely roam and play was at least a mile radius from my home. My wife and I struggle with how free we allow our children to be outside but it does not deter us from getting them out of the house.
One of the best ways that I know of to connect kids with nature and encourage them to play more outside is for them to have an experience at camp. Camps today are highly structured and organized to maximize the impact they make on the lives of the children they serve. They teach an appreciation and awareness of the natural process that are occurring constantly around all of us. They also teach kids how to be at ease outdoors. Some kids I have seen at camp are truly afraid of things that happen naturally around them. They are afraid because they have never been exposed to them and they do not have any comprehension of whether it is good or bad. They just know that it does not happen indoors. They also have lost the innate curiosity that all children should have. I have a love/hate relationship with Dora the Explorer. She does a great job teaching kids how to explore their world and yet kids spend way too much time watching her show and not actually getting outside to explore! Same thing with the Backyardigans, and Diego, and Sid the Science Kid; they all teach kids great ideas but the kids never put them into practice outside of their living rooms.
What we are finding now is that kids not only need to get outside to play for the physical activity, but that outside play is directly correlated to their emotional and psychological development as well. “Play in nature, particularly during the critical period of middle childhood, appears to be an especially important time for developing the capacities for creativity, problem solving and emotion and intellectual development.” – Dr. Stepne Kellert of Yale University.
As parents or future parents, please, send your kids outside, and then send them to camp. The world will be a better, healthier place if you do.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=346465205375069&set=a.346465202041736.82330.334624893225767&type=1&theater
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
3 comments:
Bryce,
I completely agree with your opinion. It’s the sad truth, but we cannot deny it. Children are using their free time to play video games like Wii Fit or Cabela’s Big Game Hunter. These games are now functioning as a substitute to active play AND the outdoors. I believe reconnecting kids with nature is a good way to start a new generation of youngsters. This kind of movement cannot and should not be held up to summer camps, it must start with the parents.
I agree that children need to spend less time inside and more time outside exploring there surroundings. I was a farm kid and grew up running around outside from 8 in the morning til 8 at night and it amazes me when my little cousins would rather play their xbox than go kayaking or play on the rope swing. I think that sending kids to experience camps is a great idea. A lot of the issue is a fear of the unknown and the younger kids are exposed to outdoor activities the faster they will become comfortable with them and hopefully take an interest in them. I also think that outdoor/environmental education should be a required part of school curriculums; that way even if the parents fail to educate their children they will still at least have enough exposure that they can make a decision for themselves.
Good job, topical, sad implications. I urge everyone to get on their bellies in the swamp.
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