Parenting can be hard and full of uncertainties. One thing’s for sure, though: spending time in nature with your kids provides them with all sorts of health benefits that will last across their lifespan.
Overwhelmingly, scientific research shows that regular outdoor play leads to happier, less anxious kids. Did you know that having your kids play in nature also helps to build up their confidence? Playing outside allows for kids to develop their imaginative problem-solving skills; because there is much less structure involved in outdoor play, kids get to choose how they want to interact with the world around them. In fact, one study showed that preschoolers who had access to a green yard during recess created more elaborate games and creative stories than kids who played indoors or on a traditional playground. Outdoors, kids can take risks in ways that indoor play doesn’t always allow for. Kids can learn about their own limits and how to go beyond them, which is an important skill that carries over into adulthood. In nature, kids also get to be curious – when outside, all of the wonders of life are at their fingertips, begging to be discovered and inquired about over conversations at the dinner table. Such early interest in nature leads to kids who grow up to genuinely care about natural spaces and be leaders in conservation efforts. There is even evidence that outdoor play makes children nicer – kids who play outdoors and in-person with other kids learn how to develop meaningful social connections and a real value for their community.
The very essence of outdoor play encourages kids to be physically active and to move more. Regular physical activity is beneficial for all of us, but it is especially more so for kids who struggle with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Besides the obvious benefit of extra exercise, playing outside does all kinds of wonders for the body of a growing child. Regular exposure to vitamin D from the sun directly influences bone health and provides some protection against health complications such as diabetes and heart disease. Being outside even has a healthy effect on vision – we can see preventative protections against nearsightedness among kids who play outside regularly, and sunlight exposure can help the eyes to develop a specific pigment that is important for overall retinal health. Bright, natural light from the sun can also protect kids against sleep deprivation – the light from the sun acts as a signal for our body to release healthy cortisol throughout the day to keep us alert and active, which in turn makes it easier for us to tuck away and sleep at night. Even the little kids who make mud pies in the dirt receive health benefits: exposure to all of that dirt bacteria can help them to develop a stronger immune system.
In comparison to all of these brilliant perks of being outdoors, the reality of many of our kids’ day to day lives is quite stark. A recent study demonstrated that on average, kids spend about 50% less time outdoors than their parents did as children. Even more disturbing: the average child spends less time outdoors than the average prison inmate does. 1 in 9 children had never even set foot on a beach or forest. The typical kid in the US spends about 30 minutes in unstructured play outside and a whopping 7 hours of time in front of a screen every single day. Since the 90’s, childhood obesity rates have more than doubled, and we are evermore frequently turning to ADHD stimulants and antidepressant medication to solve our kids’ behavioral issues. If we know more now than ever before about how beneficial outdoor time is for a child’s physical and emotional development, then why are kids increasingly spending less and less time outside? The answer is actually a complicated mix of cultural and practical factors.
Compared to 50 years ago, parents nowadays tend to be much more afraid of letting their children play outside. The reasons for this fact may seem obvious; firstly, 24-hour news stations are quick to share horribly tragic stories of kidnappings and other such horrors, and as such, we become significantly less trusting of others, despite evidence that national crime rates have actually declined in recent years. Secondly, it can be a lot easier in many cases to just let children watch and play endless tv and video games than it would be to plan a whole family excursion into nature. And, because kids are humans with human brains that light up like a slot machine when exposed to dopamine triggers, kids may prefer the immediate gratification that comes with screen-time over a less-structured play-date outdoors. There also may be a tendency to believe that our kids are being more social when playing indoors due to their fervent use of multiplayer video games and chatting on social media. Let’s also not forget that some kids are, in fact, just too busy to be outside: kids today face more pressure to be involved in all sorts of extracurricular activities to boost their college resumes, and as a result, have every single minute of their day scheduled. In a similar vein, some parents may struggle with giving their kids open-ended play time. These parents may feel like they have a duty to their kids to plan out a day filled with activities to keep them out of trouble, or just to avoid the dreaded, “I’m bored!”
We can’t and shouldn’t exclusively blame parents, though. The way our cities and towns are planned also has an important implication on how often one spends time outside. Is your city walkable? Is it a big, sprawling suburban area that requires a car to get around, or will a bike ride suffice? How many green parks and fields are incorporated into the city? Unfortunately for people who reside in the metro area of central Arizona, three of our cities are on the list of the cities in the country with the worst access to public parks: Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Gilbert.
Parents are also just very, very busy! Going outside isn’t exactly on the top of our list of priorities when we have bills to pay, dinner to cook, a house to clean, and relationships to manage. Our modern life just does not allow us to have that much wiggle-room in our schedules. Over many thousands of years, we humans have slowly evolved our modern cultures and societies to be increasingly indoors, when at one time our ancestors were so closely and intimately connected to nature in every aspect of daily life across their entire life. Our modern world, modern responsibilities, and modern priorities keep us inching further and further away from our intrinsic need for nature, and our kids are suffering developmentally because of it. The way that our culture came to be is none of our fault singly or directly. We’re often just trying to do the best we can with what we have.
It is important to keep in mind that there are certain children who have a much harder time getting regular access to green nature. Children who live near natural spaces like green backyards, forests, and parks during the ages of 2 to 5 experience fewer emotional problems. Nature’s protective effect on a child’s mental health is even more apparent on kids who are subject to various stressful life events. Unfortunately, the neighborhoods with fewer parks and green spaces also tend to be the same neighborhoods where more socioeconomically disadvantaged kids – and kids of color – reside. These same kids also tend to have financial and/or transportational limitations that prevent them from accessing parks and nature areas that are outside their city limits. For a triple-whammy effect, schools in low-income neighborhoods are also much less likely to have any green play spaces onsite. This contributes to an idea among researchers called the “equigenic” effect: the idea that an environmental factor (such as access to green spaces) could help socioeconomically disadvantaged people by providing them with health benefits comparable to those who live in more affluent spaces. Kids from minority families and socioeconomically disadvantaged families are more likely to experience developmental challenges such as speech and communication difficulties; ironically, these are the kids who would benefit from playing in nature the most.
Many of us are aware that in order to work well, one must regularly take a break from the fast lane and have a rest. We live in an era of “self-care”, after all, and younger working generations are valuing ideas like work-life balance more than ever before. What is good for us is intuitive and made clear by the research: eat well, exercise, be outside, be with loved ones, engage in meaningful activities, and be charitable towards others. But how many of us are able to regularly realize those commandments into our daily schedules? We were born into a world where the majority of us will be chronically time-poor. We are forced to carve out time for the things that are important for us from a marble block of life that often has little left to carve. If we want to create a world in which we are proud to live in and raise our kids in, we must sculpt the world around us through living purposefully and steadfastly by our values.
So, if one of our values is to encourage a rich, healthy, memorable childhood for our kids, then how can we accomplish that?
Take time to reevaluate your and your child’s current schedule. What activities can be replaced by more green time? Even better – what activities can be done outside? If the weather is beautiful, can your kids do their homework in the fresh air, or can they have their play-dates at the park instead of at someone’s home? Take baby steps: don’t aim to send your kid outside for 5 hours a day if you were previously lucky enough to get them outside for 5 minutes. Start small and increase outdoor time little by little. If your schedule allows, take one day out of the month to have a hiking trip with your whole family – these excursions are sure to make impactful memories that will last a lifetime. If a child isn’t used to spending lots of time away from a screen, there may be some pushback against nature-time at first, but don’t give up. At first, outdoor play may seem less stimulating and more boring to kids who are not used to nature excursions. However, being outside is actually more stimulating than video games and smartphones, but in a more beneficial and well-rounded way: while tech provides plenty of visual stimulation, nature provides for all of our senses more fully. Consistency is the key to breaking old habits and forming new ones.
If you are in a positive position to make a difference in a child’s life, whether that is as a parent, grandparent, caregiver, teacher, policy maker, pediatrician, and so on and so forth, always keep in mind that that setting our kids free to play in green spaces could mean the difference between a happy, healthy, and resilient child and one who isn’t so much. Make a decision with lasting benefits for your child today: get up, get out, and get in the green.
Don’t forget to check out the calendar, we are dedicated to connecting people to the great outdoors! You’ll find plenty of tips and information to make getting outside more often less overwhelming.
