Lots of advice for modern parents provokes debate: Is nursing better than formula? Is full-day kindergarten enriching or exhausting? How young is too young for TV? Toss out these questions and watch the fireworks begin.
But ask whether today’s children spend as much time playing outdoors and exploring nature as previous generations did, and you’ll find little disagreement: They don’t.
What can be done to get the whole family to enjoy the outdoors? Some approaches:
Obstacle: Both parents are at work, so no one is home to supervise young kids outside.
Remedy: Team up with other parents in the neighborhood to share supervision. Hire a baby sitter specifically for a few hours of outdoor play. Choose day care or a preschool that makes outdoor time a priority. Skip the gym in favor of an hour-long walk with your kids, or try to work outdoors on your laptop while the kids play in a safe area.
Obstacle: Parents fear their child could be abducted, injured or get lost, so they choose controlled indoor environments.
Remedy: Research crime stats in your neighborhood. Is it really less safe than a decade ago? If so, can you make your own outdoor space any safer? Equipping children with cell phones may help assuage worries.
Obstacle: Enrichment classes and indoor sports leave no time for outside.
Remedy: If the balance seems off, reassess. An hour outdoors can be as enriching — perhaps more enriching — than an hour of instruction indoors.
Obstacle: Kids are too focused on screen media and electronic toys to play outside.
Remedy: A steady flow of research indicates that young children now spend many of their waking hours using electronics indoors. Reverse that trend at your home by decreeing that every hour of screen time be balanced by at least an hour outdoors. Then stick to it.
