In the Information Age, everyone seems glued to computers and mobile devices, kids included. With the proliferation of video games and fun activities online, kids run the risk of being addicted to the internet, which has been found to have negative effects by experts.
As more and more children, and parents, are now tempted to stay indoors and stay glued to their laptops and tablets, here are seven reasons why your children should still play outside.
Children Who Play Outside Are More Likely To:
1. Be Physically Healthier
The outside of your home is perfect for a variety of activities such as running, throwing, jumping, pulling, and pushing things. These actions involve rudimentary motor skills which are improved over time with practice and repetition. Let them have fun going round after round with slide and swing sets, hop on the see-saw, and see them break a sweat.
Multiple studies have shown that playing outside allows them to burn more calories, which in turn prevents obesity in children. Also, enough exposure to the morning sun helps them absorb more Vitamin D, which is the natural prevention against Rickets, myopia, and other chronic diseases.
2. Have Increased Attention Span
You might have come across news and studies on how the habitual use of smartphones and tablets can shorten a child’s attention span. It does so by removing the span of time associated with performing tasks such as travelling to meet up with friends or reading a book instead of the online summary.
Also, there seems to be an endless list of games to play or videos to watch, all instantly available.
On the other hand, by allowing your kids to play outdoors, they tend to grow more curious and will learn to stay with a single task longer. Usually, with help from other kids, they are able to appreciate and enjoy doing a single task for extended periods of time.
3. Be Better at Adjusting Socially
Letting kids be kids makes for spontaneous and unstructured play where they make up their own rules and have fun.
The lack of pre-established rules and micromanaging adults allows kids to improvise, invent, and explore their surroundings. Sometimes a setting such as this one allows your kids to learn how to adapt, especially in dealing with others.
These are life lessons usually unavailable with more structured activities like school or sports meets. It is also at these kinds of activities that children learn how to take turns and share the resources.
Take a sandpit playing session for example.
While some kids would initially play by themselves, marking a spot in the pit and the sand they intend to use for themselves, they will later learn to interact with other kids either by invitation from other kids or from their need for additional resources.
4. Have Better Senses
Kids learn the world around them with help from their five senses – sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste. Letting them experience the environment helps them process sensory information and further adds to their bank.
Say a child is delighted at the sight of a new face or stops and giggles at the bark of the pet dog; information like this allows them to establish a relationship between their sensory inputs and abstract concepts.
A study published by Sanford Eye Center and Optical showed that kids who get to regularly play outside have better distance vision as compared to those who remain indoors.
Meanwhile, a child who opts to use electronic devices are limited to only sight and hearing and will leave them unaware of how things should feel, smell, or taste like.
5. Be Emotionally Stable
If there’s one thing parents find annoying, it’s that children cry all the time. Having them go outside and play with other kids also increases the risks of them getting into a fight or not getting their way.
On the other hand, they will also begin to recognise how success and happiness feel like. These experiences which bring about negative and positive emotions will learn which activities to avoid and which to set themselves on.
Moreover, children have been shown to be naturally empathetic towards others and will tend to apply these emotions to what they see in other children, causing them to be more sensitive to the needs of others.
These are the basis for high emotional quotients which will prove indispensable later on in life.
6. Be Independent
For a child, the outside of the four corners of his room, or your house, is an infinite space for them to learn and experience an assortment of things. For a parent though, outdoor playtime is that time where we have to chase them around and keep an eye on them.
In reality, there will always be a window where kids will have to play, without our constant guidance. They get to play with other kids, or by themselves. It is here that they learn how to make decisions on their own, and children learn how to get along with other children without mums and dads to tell them what to do.
Even leaving them to play around your backyard, alone or with friends and with their playsets, gives them the opportunity to navigate through unfamiliar tools. This begins their inquiry and a working understanding of how to get things to work, even without supervision.
7. Have Better Sleep and Immunity
Of course, a person’s mental constitution directly affects him physically. Increased stress levels often equate to lower immunity and so on. Starting them young with being engaged outdoors also helps them develop better.
Sunlight has been found to stimulate the pineal gland – a small gland in the brain responsible for managing sleep and our immune system.
A well-maintained body clock from a young age is essential in helping them avoid a variety of problems later on in life. A messed-up circadian rhythm is linked to insomnia, mood swings, and lower immune responses.
While the world has inevitably changed, either for better or for worse, the role of parents in guiding their children has largely remained the same. Instead of letting your kids fall deeper and deeper into a sedentary lifestyle, start them young and get them going into the outside.
