It’s March. When will it warm up outside?! I don’t want to turn this blog into a place where I can complain, but I want to whine to you for just a moment. The weather is really annoying me. When winter first starts, I look forward to the pretty snow and crisp (yeah…or downright bitter cold) air. It’s so nice to enjoy the snowy holiday season. Then January comes, then February passes, and it’s still cold and dreary. That’s when I just about lose it…and my children do too. I think we all suffer from feeling a bit down when we’ve been stuck in the house too long. The children get edgy and tempers flare or tears flow easily. I’m also really sick of flu/cold season.
Which leads me to today’s posting about boys and outdoor play. What to do if you live in a cold climate? My rule of thumb is that I kick my children out of the house for a minimum of 30 minutes of outside play (everyday) if the temperature is at least 28 degrees Fahrenheit. They complain and tell me it’s too cold sometimes. I tell them to get over it – it’s important to get a little fresh air (of course I stay in the house with the baby and watch them from the window). The funny thing is that nine times out of ten, when I call them and tell them to come in, they are having enough fun that they don’t want to come in. When the weather is a touch warmer, I bundle up the baby and take the troups for a walk. The whine about that too. We go on what we call, “a walking adventure”, where we look for interesting things as we walk through the neighborhood.
I think it’s really important that all children get fresh air, everyday. It’s so easy to just let them play video games or watch TV, but I really don’t think that’s a good solution. Children have a lot of energy and in general, boys are more active than girls. They need to get up and have fun. The other day, I told the boys to go outside and my oldest said, “Mom, we can just play the Wii, it’s exercise!” I told him that the Wii doesn’t count as outdoor activity – even if you play the Wii Ski.
So…having said all that, is it really bad to veg out inside or is outdoor play really important? Here’s what I found:
In 2003, a study came out that found children age 0-6 spend as much time with TV, computers and video games as playing outside (http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia102803nr.cfm). I have a hard time believing this because the next paragraph states, “ Even the very youngest children in America are growing up immersed in media, spending hours a day watching TV and videos, using computers and playing video games, according to a new study released today by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Children six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media (1:58), about the same amount of time they spend playing outside (2:01), and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes).
“It’s not just teenagers who are wired up and tuned in, its babies in diapers as well,” said Vicky Rideout, Vice President and Director of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health, the lead author of the study. “So much new media is being targeted at infants and toddlers, it’s critical that we learn more about the impact it’s having on child development.”
Another issue I haven’t even touched on is how lack of physical activity can lead to obesity as well as a number of other health problems. Children need to explore nature. By playing outside, children can discover their world, the abilities of their own bodies and boost their confidence, creativity and self-esteem. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing bad about outdoor play in cold weather…so get your children outside today. You’ll be glad and so will they.
