I had the good fortune to attend a talk given by
Griffen Longley on my favourite subject - the problem with kids spending too much time indoors. He presented some pretty scary stats about the state of the current generation of children - highlighting that we are right to question whether the current trend of "keeping our kids safe" is actually doing them more harm than good.
He painted one picture where many kids turn up to their first drivers lesson having never ridden a bike on the road, and having almost no pedestrian skills (protective parents having always driven their kids to the school
gate, soccer field, dance class etc) and then having to make decisions at 60km/hr with 2 tonne of steel and glass in front of them.
He talked at length about Play and what it means - and how it's NOT structured sports, but just mucking about outdoors.
He insisted he was not going to tell us how to parent/grandparent - but to make outdoor PLAY a priority in their daily lives (as much as homework). Apparently the stats show most 10yr olds spend less than 2 hours outside daily on average (includes recess, lunch and afterschool and any transport time) - which means they're getting less time outdoors than what the inmates at a maximum security prison must be given by law, so most kids are actually under
home detention! Not good when the stats also say those same kids spent more than 2 hours per day engaged behind screens. He was sure to highlight though that the problem is not just the computers/phones/tv but more the lack of PLAY - as this is entertainment = no creativity.
The worry for this generation is what sort of people they will become with underdeveloped spatial awareness, and poor creativity.
He cited a 3 year Australian study that proved that 30mins of daily outdoor play improved Naplan scores - and this evidence was used by Dept of Sport & Rec (by whom he is employed) to develop school diaries for 2014 that include play as part of their daily homework. You can see it
HERE - please forward this to any school's you think would be keen to take action to help the youth of today and embrace this great initiative - I am going to get my kids school onto it.
Of course, he acknowledged that we do not live in the same world as the previous generations & as a consequence we as parents (and grandparents) feel obligated to "protect" our children from perceived risks. However, he went into some detail about this and basically, its all due to the litigious issues and not based on a risk "benefit" approach.
There comes a point where we forget to give the kids an open door because we're so preoccupied with our routine of work/pickups/drop offs and the kids are happy to be left alone to themselves and the enthralling world of entertainment.
It was a wake up call for me - despite this being my pet favourite subject (getting kids outdoors) I am just like any other parent and need to be told its ok to give the kids more freedoms. The
Nature Play website has good ideas for making the transition if you're a parent/grandparent wanting to get the kids outdoors more, when camping isn't possible everyday.
I think its great to know that organisations like Sport & Rec are getting out there to reach parents with this information and support. This talk was held at my daughter's P&F general meeting at the high school and was promoted through the school newsletter etc to get a good turnout. I'm so glad I went.