Kids spend a lot more time inside these days, mostly because of technology. The average child only plays outside for 4 to 7 minutes a day, while they spend more than 7 hours a day in front of a screen.
Spending time outside is both enjoyable and necessary. Playing outdoors has been shown to have a positive effect on children's mental health as well as their ability to focus. Read on to find out more.
Sunshine
Yes, being in the sun, especially when you get a sunburn, can make you more likely to get skin cancer. But it turns out that the sun is also good for us. We can't make vitamin D without getting some sun. Vitamin D is important for a lot of things in the body, from building bones to keeping our immune systems healthy. Sunlight affects our immune system in other ways, as well as how well we sleep and how we feel. When we get some sun every day, our bodies work best.
As long as children are covered up – that is, they wear hats and long sleeves and trousers – and wear sunblock, they can enjoy all that sunshine and the benefits that it brings without any problems at all.
Exercise
Every day, kids should be active for an hour. Going outside to play is one way to make sure that happens. They can work out inside, but sending them outside, especially with a ball, a bike, or kid's skates, encourages active play, which is the best kind of exercise for kids.
The problem is that if the children are using their screens a lot, they are not being very active, and this sedentary lifestyle is bad for the heart, lungs, circulatory system, and much more. Even if the symptoms associated with these problems don't manifest right away, they could come about years later, making adult life hard.
Learn Life Skills
These are the life skills that help us plan, set priorities, solve problems, negotiate, and do more than one thing at once. They are essential to our success. This also includes being creative and using our imaginations to solve problems and have fun. These are important life skills that need to be learned and practiced, and kids need free time to do that.
They need time alone and with other kids, and they need to be allowed (or maybe even forced) to make up their own games, figure out what to do, and have fun on their own. When they are outside, they can practice these essential skills for life.
Taking Risks
Children must be willing to take a few risks. As parents, this causes us concern because we want our children to be safe, but w hen we wrap children in safety and never allow them to take chances, they will be unable to determine what they are capable of, and they may lack the confidence and fortitude to confront the unavoidable hazards of life.
Sure, it is possible to break an arm when climbing a tree, and yes, it is not nice when someone does not want to be your friend anymore. However, this does not rule out the possibility of success. Learning from our failures is equally as essential as learning from our successes in terms of lifelong learning opportunities.
Socialization
Learning to get along with others is an important skill for children. They must learn how to make and keep friends, how to share and cooperate with others, and how to show kindness to others. It's impossible for them to learn what they need to if they just engage in organised environments like school or sports teams.
When they can get outside and have fun with other children, they socialize without realizing it, helping them to instantly become better communicators and more confident in social situations.
Reduces Stress
The Attention Restoration Theory says that living in a city requires "directed attention," which means that we have to ignore distractions, and that wears out our brains. In natural settings, we practice a type of attention called "soft fascination," which is easy and makes us feel good, not tired.
Appreciation Of Nature
So many things in our world are changing, and not in good ways. If a child never walks in the woods, digs in the dirt, sees animals in their natural habitat, climbs a mountain, plays in a stream, or stares out at the ocean's endless horizon, they might never understand what they're missing. Our children will decide what will happen to our planet in the future, so they need to learn to care about it.
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