Kids need to get outside

Marie Hartwell-Walker’s article “Kids Need to Get Outside” discusses a culture shift within the last 30 years regarding outdoor playtime. 30 years ago, the expectation for children upon their return from school or on a weekend was so spend time outside. Hartwell-Walker argues that this outside time fostered social skills, leadership skills, and strategies for stress management. According to Hartwell-Walker, “Almost half of parents of school age kids worry that their kids aren’t outside enough and wish that it would happen more often. But many admitted that they rely on recess at school to get the kids out into fresh air and group play”. Hartwell-Walker then cites a lack of outdoor play to blame for a multitude of issues including obesity, mood disorders and depression, increased diagnoses of ADHD, and struggles with social skills. She suggests combatting these issues by going outside yourself (as a parent or caregiver), going outside with your children, teaching and modeling for children how to enjoy time away from screens, and to allow room for their imaginations to roam when they claim boredom.

In reading this article, I learned that ADHD diagnoses have nearly doubled in the last 20 years. Additionally, children on average spend under ten minutes daily engaging in unstructured outside playtime versus over seven hours daily of screen time.

“Kids Need to Get Outside” is relevant to my research as it discusses positive potential outcomes of physical activity and unstructured playtime as it relates to stress and mental health.

Hartwell-Walker, M. (2019). Kids need to get outside. Psych Central. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/blog/kids-need-to-get-outside/