A national week of play starts Saturday. That’s a week in which communities and groups organize a Play Day where children (and their parents) can play outdoors at a park, school playground or any open space.
But wait a minute: Why do we need special play days? Don’t kids play enough already?
The truth is that kids do not play as much as they once did. A University of Michigan study in 2000 found that kids had 12 fewer hours of free time a week than kids in the 1980s. Those 12 hours included eight fewer hours of unstructured play and outdoor activities. That’s important because lots of doctors say children need to play to be healthy and happy.
What are kids doing these days? Electronic media and lots of it. The average kid spends almost 45 hours a week with TV, the Internet, movies and other electronic media.
The popularity of video games is a big factor. A recent study in the medical journal Pediatrics showed that video games are played in 90 percent of homes with kids ages 8 to 16.
So what should kids and their parents do to get more play time? Turn off the TV and get outside. Play is when kids ride bikes or play ghosts in the graveyard and move more than their thumbs to make things happen.
