Leave No Child Indoors: Part 1 of 3

May 12, 2008

Larry Schweiger is President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation and an occasional contributor to Creation Care magazine.

This is part 1 of 3 and originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine. Part 2 and Part 3 appear here.

I was recently on a flight from Washington, DC, to San Francisco. Sitting next to me in the left window seat was an obese boy who was about ten years old. His mom put him on the plane to visit his dad in California. As soon as our plane was over ten thousand feet, the boy broke out his Game Boy and settled in for a long and intense session. After a couple of hours of this, our pilot came on the intercom and said, “folks, off to our left is one of the best views you will ever see of the Grand Canyon.” I watched the boy. His eyes never left the Game Boy, not even for a second. I was saddened by this boy who had no apparent interest in the wonders of nature.

It occurred to me that I was witnessing, first hand, an important American phenomenon that is having a profound impact on our children’s future and the future of nature itself. What is happening to our connection to nature and where has outdoor time gone? There are many signs that something major — something profoundly different—is happening to the basic connection between Americans and the outdoors.

The signs are everywhere:

  • In 2005 the Association for Childhood Education International reported that children’s outdoor time is down by 50% over previous generations.
  • A study published in Early Childhood in 2004 found that 85% of mothers reported that their children play outdoors less than they did as children.
  • In 2004 the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that the average child now spends over 6 hours daily watching TV, playing video games or on a computer.

    • But it is too easy to just blame modern electronic technology for the change. There are other factors too. Many parents today are bombarded with media reports of “stranger danger” even though such crime is actually down by about 40% over previous generations. Many people say there is a lack of access to safe outdoor spaces. Others mention rising fuel prices, particularly with regard to outdoor vacations.

    Despite the trend, 93% of mothers report that they recognize the significant benefits of children spending more time outdoors for health and motor skill development reasons. Some 77% agreed that it improved childhood social skills and 82% saw outdoor play as a way to improve a child’s sense of self worth.

    Years ago, kids burned plenty of calories playing outdoors. A study in the Journal of Pediatrics, “Physical Activity Recommendations for School-Age Youth” found that “our children are just not burning up those calories today.”

    REAL DANGERS ARE INSIDE
    I thought about the boy I sat next to on the flight in comparison to my own youth. My mother would often say that I lived outdoors and I suspect many of you spent a great deal of your childhood free time in outdoors too. My brothers and I roamed for hours across the hills of northern Allegheny County, climbing trees, building forts and constructing dams in the creeks.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that the missing ingredient for most kids is an hour per day of unstructured activity. Researchers in such places as Chicago and Boston are studying how the nationwide childhood obesity epidemic may cause shorter life-spans for the next generation. They conclude that, while we have enjoyed increases in expected lifespan for several decades, the new lack of childhood activity and its extra pounds can lead to adult-onset diabetes and can actually shorten average lifespan from three to five years.

    Parents have become unnecessarily more fearful, though outdoor “stranger danger” is nothing compared to indoor threats. The risk of kidnapping by a stranger is one to two chances in a million. Most sexual assaults on children are from adults they already know. And yet, the risk of a child communicating with a sexual predator online is one in five. Concern about on-line danger is real and is supported by a 2005 Seventeen Magazine study of online teenage girls that found:

  • Twelve percent have agreed to meet in person with someone they have met only online.
  • Twenty-three percent have sent pictures to someone that they have met on the Internet. And according to recent findings, this is probably understated because kids are now afraid to tell their parents when some suspicious person contacts them online, because they don’t want their computer time taken away. The reality of the world we live in today is that children are more at risk of predation by strangers they meet in a chat room than by strangers in a park. Spending so much time in the screen space rather than in the green space isn’t something we should encourage. In fact, our moms were right. Being outside is healthier for a whole host of reasons. The “disconnect with nature” is not confined to children; we are seeing changes in adult outdoor behavior as well:
  • Roper reports that in 2001 a decades-long pattern of increasing outdoor recreation participation in the U.S. shifted dramatically downward.
  • Of the 27 outdoor activities the survey has been tracking for the American Recreation Coalition, 21 displayed a reduction while just six showed an increase.
  • The National Park Service and many state parks departments report that attendance is down some 20 percent over the past ten years.
  • Importantly, the Roper surveys show that the drop in participation is particularly noteworthy among young adults (19% to 24% less outdoor activity) – this is also the group that reports high levels of access to the Internet.
  • Ironically, The Roper report documents convincingly that Americans of all ages see the importance of increased outdoor time.

    • This is part 1 of 3 and originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine. Part 2 and Part 3 appear here.

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    Comments

    2 Responses to “Leave No Child Indoors: Part 1 of 3”

    1. Leave No Child Indoors: Part 2 of 3 | DeepGreenConversation on May 13th, 2008 3:53 am

      [...] This is part 2 of 3 and originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine. You can find part 1 of our series here. [...]

    2. Leave No Child Indoors: Part 3 of 3 | DeepGreenConversation on May 14th, 2008 3:04 am

      [...] is part 3 of 3 and originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine. You can find part 1 of our series here and part 2 [...]

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